M97 The Owl Nebula

[stevewanstall]

Celestron 9.25 at F10, ZWO ASI 1600MM pro, Skywatcher EQ6 Pro,  QHY5 guide cam, AstroPhotography Tool, PHD2, Cartes Du Ciel . Processing in DSS, PS and Lightroom

An unexpected clear night, so I left the camera taking pictures till 7 am, well into the morning light. The image is based on:

Gain : 139; offset 50
Exposure length 114s
Luminance x 112
Red x 42
Blue x 44
Green x 15 (lost a few because of dawn)

I used darks, flats and dark  flats for the L channel and flats for the RGB channels. My colour processing leaves a lot to be desired, this is number 2.

M97 is a planetary nebula,  the remnants of  a star that has grown to a red giant then 'blows' off its atmosphere and shrinks to a white dwarf. In this image there are a couple of distant galaxies visible too.

I didn't get any sign of the outer halo, I expect that needs a lot more subs.