Cat's Eye Nebula (NGC 6543)

[alan4908]

My first attempt at imaging a rather unusual looking deep sky object, the Cat's Eye Nebula. 

Since the core is about x1000 brigher than the surrounding nebula, to avoid a burnt out core, I decided to create a LRGB high dynamic range image by combining 600s and 60s exposures.  Since my camera's (Trius 814) non-linear range starts at about 47000 ADU, I used CCDstack to replace any pixels above 40000 ADU's from the 600s exposures with the corresponding ADU value from the 60s exposures.  I then processed the object using my normal workflow via PS and Pixinsight.

Comments and criticism are welcome.

Alan

 

LIGHTS: L: 13; R:8:G:10; B:9 x 600s. L:30; R:21;G:20;B:25 x 60s. Esprit 150 and Trius 814. DARKS: 30. BIAS:100. FLATS:40 all at -20C

[MARS1960]

Very nice indeed, i think i might have to invest some time in this object.

Whats the fuzzy to the right?

[alan4908]

2 hours ago, MARS1960 said:

Very nice indeed, i think i might have to invest some time in this object.

Whats the fuzzy to the right?

Thanks !  The fuzzy to the right is NGC 6552 - a 14th magnitude spiral galaxy, about 370 million light years away.

Alan

[MARS1960]

1 hour ago, alan4908 said:

Thanks !  The fuzzy to the right is NGC 6552 - a 14th magnitude spiral galaxy, about 370 million light years away.

Alan

Cheers Alan.

What was your total integration time?

[alan4908]

14 minutes ago, MARS1960 said:

Cheers Alan.

What was your total integration time?

The total integration time was 8.3 hours. I'm quite fortunate to image from a site with very low light pollution levels, so with no moon and no street lights you can see a long way !

Alan

[MARS1960]

Just now, alan4908 said:

The total integration time was 8.3 hours. I'm quite fortunate to image from a site with very low light pollution levels, so with no moon and no street lights you can see a long way !

Alan

Cheers Alan, i think i'll make a start tonight if the BBC aren't telling porkies again .

[Rodd]

Very interesting target.  And I am sure a very difficult one to image well.  Good job

Rodd

[alan4908]

4 hours ago, Rodd said:

Very interesting target.  And I am sure a very difficult one to image well.  Good job

Rodd

Thanks for the comment Rodd.

Yes, I did find this target very difficult to process due to the extraordinary brightness of the core.

Alan

[niallk]

Beautiful!

I love trying to tease out detail in this object visually - one of my overall favourites.

[toxic]

very nice indeed Alan  

[alan4908]

11 hours ago, niallk said:

Beautiful!

I love trying to tease out detail in this object visually - one of my overall favourites.

Thanks.  Yes, I also found it satisfying to extract the details, although I found it very difficult ! The pixel math technique for creating high dynamic images, which I learnt from an Adam Block tutorial video, seems to work particularly well with this object. 

  

11 hours ago, toxic said:

very nice indeed Alan  

Thanks the comment Chris 

[iansmith]

Hello Alan,

Very nice image of the nebula and it's surrounding halo. Which Adam Block video did you see to get the details on HDR processing?

Cheers, Ian

[alan4908]

14 minutes ago, iansmith said:

Hello Alan,

Very nice image of the nebula and it's surrounding halo. Which Adam Block video did you see to get the details on HDR processing?

Cheers, Ian

Hi Ian

The video with the details is here: http://www.adamblockphotos.com/store/p8/_(NEW)_The_Complete_Tutorial_of_CCDStack.html

which is video on how best to use the stacking program CCDstack that Adam uses. I presume that you can do a similar actions with other programs (eg Pixinsight using HDRComposition).  

If you've never explored CCDstack,  then I would encourage you to try it, it's a very impressive piece of software. However, to make the best use of it, you really do need to watch the above video.

Alan

[iansmith]

Thanks  Alan I'll have a look at it. I use Pixinsight, but I expect the ideas can be transferred. 

Cheers, Ian

[Barry-Wilson]

This is a very difficult target as you note with its high dynamic range in such a small area and you have processed this very well to reveal the layered structure and colouring.  Excellent work Alan.

[alan4908]

4 minutes ago, Barry-Wilson said:

This is a very difficult target as you note with its high dynamic range in such a small area and you have processed this very well to reveal the layered structure and colouring.  Excellent work Alan.

Thanks Barry 

[PatrickGilliland]

That is a super first try Alan - this is a difficult target, you have done very well.  One of those that will eat lights for fun but might just be worth it.

[alan4908]

2 hours ago, PatrickGilliland said:

That is a super first try Alan - this is a difficult target, you have done very well.  One of those that will eat lights for fun but might just be worth it.

Thanks Paddy  - I have a feeling it will not be my last attempt since it is one of the most unusual objects that I've come across.

Alan