Soul Nebula Ha WIP

[3ggman]

So its been over 5 months since I was able to do any imaging (a combination of work, weather and summer) and three nights ago came the first nice bit of clear night sky I had seen in ages. I was dreading setting up as it had been so long I figured I had forgotten how to do but almost like muscle memory it all just happen without a glich and I was imaging in under 45mins. 3hrs later the clouds rolled in and I was done. I also manage to grad two hours lst night but only an hour of it was usable.

Enough of me waffling, down to business. One last thing, the clear sky caught me by surprise the other night and I had not really given much thought a s to what to image. I chose the Soul Nebula and I didnt really realise how big it was and I am half considering doing a Heart and Soul mosaic now, although given my skies that could take years.

In total 3.5hrs of data in 15min subs.

Quick process in PI (DBE and a quick stretch)

Darks but no flats applied.

Comments always welcome.

PS: I have included the last image I was working on before the summer, M94. 9.5hrs of Lum. Somebody posted an amazing image of this object here which sparked me to have a go at it, unfortunatly it is still a long way from being finished. It fits the Atiks FOV perfectly I think and for comparison you can see the upper corners are a little egg shaped, which has now been fixed.

[ollypenrice]

Good result. It would take more data just to get the noise down and allow you to push the contrasts but it's very nice as is. The good news is that you need very little colour for this, say an hour per channel.

It's a fine nebula in its own right and would get more attention if divorced from its romantic partner!

Olly

[Gina]

Good ones

[3ggman]

Thanks guys. Yeah, there is still a bit to do with it yet Olly. (I couldnt resist the urge to post it anyway). I think the second night (only an hour of data) added more noise than signal due to the conditions.

Its not likely I will try a full mosaic, maybe just two more frames to get the edges of this one in.