Sh2-142 "The Wizard" and NGC 7380 in Ha

[GordonH]

Hello fellow insomniacs

After an hour of cloud cover after aligning and focusing and ruining the first 5 subframes I let the camera run as there was no sign of rain and true to form with the British weather the skies cleared. I managed to get 18x10 subframes of the The Wizard in Cepheus, details are as follows

TMB 115 f7 with field flattener

Starlight Xpress SXVF H36 with FLI filter wheel using Astronomik 13nm Ha filter

Paramount ME

18 x 10 minutes unguided

Simple autodark subtraction in Maxim DL, no flats or bias frames

Aligned and combined in Maxim DL using sum

Saved to 16 bit tiff, using full pixel value and gamma value of 0.8 to stretch

2 x aggressive curves and 1 minor curves alternated with levels in Photoshop CS2

Local contrast enhancement using Noel's tools in Photoshop CS2

Clone stamp tool to tidy image

Final minor cropping to remove effects of stacking

I have also included a rotated cropped closeup of the Wizard to show the detail better.

I had to reduce the quality of the image somewhat in order to post it, better quality version s are on my site http://www.imagingtheheavens.co.uk

Thanks for looking

Best wishes

Gordon

[Roy]

Very nice Gordon, you guys are really making me miss this imaging lark

[Cloudwatcher]

I like those a lot! Though I must confess I can't see a wizard.

Looks like a giant splash or impact with the stars as ejecta.

Cheers

CW

[GordonH]

Hi CW

Look carefully at the cropped closeup version, you should be able to see his pointed hat, part of his face, his cloak and his hands sticking out as if casting a spell. I had to look twice but it is easier to see in the cropped rotated version

Best wishes

Gordon

[Cloudwatcher]

Ah,yes! I can see him now,Gordon.

As a Disc World fan I should have spotted him right off!

Cheers

CW