Crescent Nebula

[Davide Simonetti]

Crescent Nebula: finished (for now at least). The total exposure time is over 6 hours taken over 5 nights. It would be nice to add more but I think it's now a case of diminishing returns and I'd prefer to move on to other targets. The objective was to try and get the whole shape of the object to resolve rather than just the brighter crescent part and it is just about visible although capturing it with an f12 scope was challenging. Anyway, the nebula isn't going anywhere so more data can always be added to this shot another time but really it's a target for somewhere with darker skies. 

47 x 8 minute exposures at 400 ISO (6 hours and 16 minutes)
27 x dark frames
20 x flat frames
21 x bias/offset frames (subtracted from flat frames only)

Captured with APT
Guided with PHD2
Processed in Nebulosity and Photoshop

Equipment:
Celestron NexStar 127 SLT
Skywatcher EQ5 Mount
Orion 50mm Mini Guide Scope
ZWO ASI120 MC imaging and guiding camera
Canon 700D DSLR