gorann

Thanks Steve! I can see your point and from a purely aesthetical point of view these two galaxies look better without IFN in my mind (at least right now). It is the same for me with Ha in galaxies. I often think those blotches of sharp red makes them look rather ugly and unnatural, but some likes them apparently and I have posted a few galaxies in RGB and got comments about having to add Ha. But then I think that adding a bit of Ha lifted my recent RASA version of M31.....

Thanks Olly! I fully agree that we should more often, at least here on SGL, post more than one version of our images. It is just so hard to decide, like inkluding Ha or not, and how much, or how much IFN. Not sure why we often feel we need to come up with one "ultimate" version when there are so many ways to present the data. Seeing more than one version is more interesting and provoking, so let's go for more diversity also in AP!

Thanks Gary! Are you trying to see it visually?

Here I set out to see how much IFN (Integrated flux nebulas) I could capture with the RASA in a few hours. The area around M81 and M82 are by now well known for its prominent IFN, although it is still a very faint form of nebulosity. I actually captured more than looked good as it seemed to drown the nice galaxies in there. So ihere are two versions as I had difficultes deciding how much IFN to show. None of them show all the IFN signal that is in the data, that looked just too overwhelming. This is what Widipedia writes about IFN: Integrated flux nebulas are a relatively recently identified astronomical phenomenon. In contrast to the typical and well known gaseous nebulas within the plane of the Milky Way galaxy, IFNs lie beyond the main body of the galaxy. The term was coined by Steve Mandel-Wilson who defined them as "high galactic latitude nebulae that are illuminated not by a single star (as most nebula in the plane of the Galaxy are) but by the energy from the integrated flux of all the stars in the Milky Way. These nebulae clouds, an important component of the interstellar medium, are composed of dust particles, hydrogen and carbon monoxide and other elements." Captured 11 Feb with the RASA 8 and ASI2600MC, no filter. 71 x 4 min at gain 100, so 4.7 hours. Stacked in PI and processed in PS and PI.

Thanks Peter, you made the RASA blush😆

I just suggested on my Astrobin post, referring to you, that I think we should call that red nebulosity around Bernard 3 The Strawberry Nebula. Maybe it catches on. https://www.astrobin.com/2ftcte/C/

Thanks Dave! Yes, the nebulosity is weak so moon had to be gone before I could make attempt on this one. Upon suggestion from Rodd on my Astrobin post I have brightened the image a bit.

Thanks again Olly! OK, v2 it is for the time being - I also like it better. What do you think that blue around the strawberry nebula is? I do see it faintly also in your image. Is it Oiii or reflection from some bright star behind the strawberry? I wonder if anyone has tried to image this with an Oiii filter - that should show Oiii but not blue reflection nebulosity.

PS. I rarely got this dynamic bright and fluffy structure in the dust in my images until I starded with the RASA 8 - ASI2600MC combo. Not sure if it is one or both of them that is mainly responsible.

Thanks a lot Olly! You are too kind. Yes, I was a bit ambivalent about how saturated I should keep it. When I brought out the red signal, mainly with curves in Lab color, I aimed at getting the red strawberry simmilar to yours as a bench mark and that also lifted the red and blue in the rest of the image. Here is a version with reduced overall saturation (-19 % in PS) except on the strawberry - I don't want a brown strawberry😉. Have you decided on a OSC yet?

I recently saw @ollypenrice mosaic of this area and thought I could just about sqeeze these two rather iconic nebulae, IC348(VdB19) and NGC1333, into a two panel mosaic with the RASA 8. Fortunately these two reflection nebulae are separated by an interesting mix of dark nebulosity, including several from the Bernard catalogue including including Bernard 3 associated with a large patch of Ha nebulosity (this camera is rather good at capturing Ha also without a filter). To increase the details a bit I have added about 50% lum to IC348 and NGC1333 from old 5"refractor data that I had in store. I also post the annotatated low resolution image created on Astrobin. Data collected over three nights (5-7 Fec 2021) with the RASA 8 and ASI2600MC without filter (gain 100, -20°C) on an iOptron CEM70. 109 x 4 min, so 7.3 hours. All from my home obsy.

Just boosted the colours a bit especially the blue, so the original post is edited. Thought is was a bit too Ha dominated.

Thanks! That is a great camera and the RASA 8 is a must! Just keep looking for anyone having these jems in stock.

Great news! Then mine may also be on its way Good luck with it and CO!

Thanks! On good clear nights without a moon my SQM may reach 21.6 (so Bortle 2) here but for this image with the moon partially up and snow on the ground reflecting light my SQM meter showed 20.4 (Bortle 4).

Thanks a lot Martin! Yes I was also surprised how much Oiii signal I collected, more than in many other spagetti images I have seen. Great filter and the only issue I have had with it are Ha halos around bright red stars but Hutech are now replacing the NBX filter with the new NBZ for free. Apparently they have fixed the halo issue and FLO will send me one when they get it.

Thanks Dave! I just did the ordinary mosaic star alignment in PI. Where do I find that script? Will it both align the stars and match the brightness and colours?

This two-panel mosaic was taken under rather difficult conditions with the moon partially up, a snow-covered ground brightening the sky and poor seeing due to ice crystals in the air, so a wise person would not have aimed at this very faint object. But given the circumstances I am relatively pleased with the result. From Wikipedia: Simeis 147, also known as the Spaghetti Nebula, SNR G180.0-01.7 or Sharpless 2-240, is a supernova remnant (SNR) in the Milky Way, straddling the border between the constellations Auriga and Taurus. The nebulous area is fairly large with an almost spherical shell and filamentary structure. The remnant has an apparent diameter of approximately 3 degrees, an estimated distance of approximately 3000 (±350) light-years, and an age of approximately 40,000 years. It is believed that after its stellar explosion a rapidly spinning neutron star known as pulsar PSR J0538+2817 was left behind in the nebula core, emitting a strong radio signal. Equipment: RASA 8 and ASI2600MC (gain 100) with an IDAS NBX OiiiHa filter. 92 x 5 min subs so totally 7.7 hours. Collected during two nights on February 3-4. Stacked and stitched in PI and processed mainly in PI.

Great image with nice details and colours. It is impressive what you and your light-weight kit have accomplished here.

Thanks a lot guys, much appreciated!

Thanks a lot Peter!

Thanks a lot! Yes, I also like to see how these things relate to each other. I usually also see them as single objects. Surfing on Aladin sky atlas gives me a lot of aha-moments about iconic nebula actually being neighbours.

Good choice and you will not be dissapointed! I just put my ASI071 OSC on my 14" Meade ACF to be ready for galaxy season in Obsy 2. Although it is clear tonight, seeing is not good enough for 3.5 m FL tonight so I am just running the RASA with the ASI2600MC in Obsy 3 - a very forgivable set up.

On a really good night I can have the SQM meter showing 21.6 (Bortle 2-3), but most often around 21.2, so yes I am in a rather dark patch. That image was taken between 7 and 8 pm two nights ago before the moon started rising and I could see the subs getting brighter and contrast going down. That is why I only used the first hour of data and thought it was good enough at f/2 for adding some Ha to my RGB data. I did give it a good Gaussian blur bifore I added it to the red channel so it would not introduce noise.

That is a bit over the top😁 Thank you very much!