Fighting Dragons of Ara - NGC 6188

[MarsG76]

Hi Astroexplorers,

Sharing my first frame of my WIP mosaic of the "The Fighting Dragons".

This is NGC 6188 or Gum 53 (AKA The Fighting Dragons), an emission nebula located about 4,000 light years away in the constellation Ara.

I imaged this with a QHY268M through Baader 7.5nm Sulfur II, Hydrogen Alpha and Oxygen III narrowband filters, using a cheap (it was cheap when I got it before all astronomy gear sky rocketed) doublet 80mm refractor at F6.25 (500mm focal length) and tracked on a "hypertuned" CGEM mount.

The total exposure time spent on this frame was 16 hours and 40 minutes.

I'm slowly exposing the other frames/plates for the mosaic as I get a bit of clarity... I was exposing some SII data as I write this and had to run out to close my observatory when I heard a sudden down pour... literally went from clear to a downpour in less than 5 minutes... nuts!

Clear Skies,

Mariusz

Edited June 5, 2022 by MarsG76

[juno16]

That is really a beautiful image!

The color palette is very pleasing to the eye and the details are super.

Very nice!

Jim

[mackiedlm]

Really nice image, good detaila nd nicely controlled colours

 

[Rodd]

This target is so much better in NB. Well done. 

[MarsG76]

On 08/06/2022 at 13:50, Rodd said:

This target is so much better in NB. Well done. 

I agree but also think that most nebulae can look better imaged in NB because there is more flexibility/possibility to bring out subtle detail in processing than with wideband.

 

[Ratlet]

Beautiful image.  Makes me wish the earth rotated pole to pole.

[MarsG76]

27 minutes ago, Ratlet said:

Beautiful image.  Makes me wish the earth rotated pole to pole.

You peeps have plenty of objects we're missing out on down here.... but thank to platforms such as this one, we can share the view of the celestial wonders beyond our horizons.