Filtering the Crescent

[Whistlin Bob]

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been imaging the Crescent using different focal lengths and filters

Widefield 135mm

I was working out that this is the fourth time I’ve been imaging in or around the Sadr nebula. On this occasion it was because I’d already started on the data for 900mm shots of the Crescent and I thought it’d be nice to have a wider shot of the general area, putting it into context. I was inspired by @Stub Mandrel's recent results with his Triband filter to see if the same (or similar) technology in a clip filter would help with wide frame nebula images and acquired a Skytech Quadband (that transmits 2 35nm bands around Ha, Hb, Oiii and Siii – hence the name) . I must say I’m quite impressed- I got this from a sequence of 20x 150 second captures on Sunday night under a 99% moon using a Russian made 135mm vintage lens on a modded Canon 600d and a Star Adventurer. Normally I’d only attempt proper Narrowband under these sorts of conditions, but I thought it coped pretty well under the strong moonlight. The only slight concern is the halo around Sadr itself.

The photo picks out how prominent the Crescent is (below centre and to the right of this picture), but also shows how “busy” this bit of sky is- the Butterfly nebula pops out, with its prominent dark lane, but the fainter cloud that it’s a part of extends beyond the frame. There are also clusters aplenty- my favourite is M29 – the Space Invader cluster just below and to the left of the centre. Probably my eighties upbringing…

Hydrogen Alpha

These are taken using a Baader 7nm Ha Filter on a modded Canon 550d in a Skywatcher 200p- altogether I got 12 10 minute subs before clouds stopped me. I think this is the best of the shots for showing the structure of the object and the shockwaves that form its shape; the monochrome also highlights the cloud of the larger surrounding nebula.

Oiii

This came from the same setup and 10 more subs, this time with an 8.5nm Oiii filter, and a 99% moon on 13^th October. The only Oiii visible in this shot is around the nebula itself. The signal was quite a bit weaker than the Ha; this picture was created by discarding the Red Channel and then combining equally the Blue and Green using Pixelmath in Pixinsight.

Bi-colour

Finally, it’s all brought together using the same process- this time feeding the Hydrogen into the Red channel and the Oxygen into the Blue and Green. I spent quite a bit of time playing with this one. Just feeding the data in, the red was total dominant and I progressively multiplied the Blue and Green until it was more prominent (the eventual multiplier used was 2). I also experimented with trying to change the balance to bring a little more colour into it, but that also artificially unbalanced the star colour so I decided to leave it even, which makes the Oxygen mostly white.

I’ve really enjoyed taking these different views of the same object and learning about it. The nebula itself, 5,000 light years away, is 25 light years across and is caused by fast stellar winds erupting from the Wolf-Rayet star visible at the centre of the nebula. It’s thought the star will imminently (in astronomical terms) become a supernova.

Edited October 17, 2019 by Whistlin Bob
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