Heart and Soul - Modded 600D

[cuivenion]

This is the Heart and Soul Nebula in Cassiopeia, a hydrogen region containing several small open clusters. It's the first image taken after getting my Canon 600d modded at Cheap Astrophotography (thanks Juan). Here's the capture info:

HEQ5 mount

200mm f4 Takumer M42 (stopped to about 5.6)

Canon EOS 600D (Baader Modded)

Altair GPCAM and 135mm lens as Guider

43 x 300s exposures

50 Flats

50 Flat Darks

50 bias

Dithered no darks

I'd say it's a very challenging object to process as you need to stretch agressively to bring out the nebula and of course the stars take over the image at that point. I've done a few versions of this and its the one i'm happiest with. I'll definitely be revisiting this with a reprocess though. Comments and criticisms welcome as ever.

 

Edited January 9, 2020 by cuivenion

[alan potts]

Its a very nice shot and i like to see the two together, however in my opinion it is over saturated and would be even better toned down a little. I would love to get a shot like this but my shortest scope is 330mm and still too smaller FOV at that

Alan

[cuivenion]

Cheers Alan, I'll definitely be having another look at it.

[TerryMcK]

I like the framing. There are a few halos around the brighter stars and it may be a touch saturated but still a stunning image - fantastic.

[carastro]

Great result.  I like deep colours myself, but perhaps this is a little too deep come to mention it.

Carole 

[cuivenion]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I did add saturation to try make the nebula more distinct but I may have pushed it to far. I do like colourful images which probably doesn't help.

[cuivenion]

Had another go, Let me know what you think:

[Ouroboros]

Personally I think that's better - saturation wise. But then my preference re. saturation is that less is more. 

I think it's a wonderful wide frame image though. I'd be really pleased with that. 

[cuivenion]

Thanks Ouroboros.