Nebulosity in Cepheus - mega-mosaic

[Adreneline]

I decided to have a go at a 'mega-mosaic' of the Cepheus region using my RedCat+ASI1600MM. So far I've done 18 of an intended 40 panes of Ha, but that's a start!

The grand plan is to do all 40 panes in Ha, OIII and SII; each pane to have essentially the same exposure time and each pane to be processed with an identical set of processes. As the mosaic gets bigger I am having to resample the image just to make it a manageable size. This is not an image for pixel-peepers. There are a few artefacts that seem to have crept into the image I suspect from the star removal process.

The primary idea is to stop me wandering aimlessly around looking for a target - I like a good project. I also want to understand the extent of the nebulosity around the Cepheus popular targets. I can't help but feel that so many target images do not show the extent of surrounding nebulosity in an attempt to focus purely on the intended target.

With 18 panes of Ha complete, each one 10x300s, this is the result so far. 

Starless:

Stars:

Annotated:

If I ever get to 40 panes the image will include Ced 214 and NGC 7822 - and all of Sh2-129 (Ooops)

Thanks for looking.

Adrian

 

 

 

Edited August 27, 2022 by Adreneline

[JeremyS]

Amazing! 👍🏻

[Mr Spock]

That is quite spectacular 👍 I can't wait to see the 40 pane version.

[Kon]

That's really impressive and puts the whole area into perspective.

[AstroNebulee]

Wow, stunning and looking forward to the 40 panes

[clarkpm4242]

3 hours ago, Adreneline said:

and all of Sh2-129 (Ooops)

Excellent so far!  Glad you're including the full bat/squid 🤣 cheers, Paul.

[Adreneline]

5 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Amazing! 👍🏻

5 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

That is quite spectacular 👍 I can't wait to see the 40 pane version.

4 hours ago, Kon said:

That's really impressive and puts the whole area into perspective.

4 hours ago, AstroNebulee said:

Wow, stunning and looking forward to the 40 panes

3 hours ago, clarkpm4242 said:

Excellent so far!  Glad you're including the full bat/squid 🤣 cheers, Paul.

Thanks for all the kind comments guys.

I'm also looking forward to the full 40 pane version - I just hope I can stay the 100 hour course and I've got enough processing power in the MacBook to assemble the whole 40 panes!

Cepheus is probably my favourite region with a wealth of treasures to image.

Adrian

 

[Paul Holdsworth]

Absolutely stunning ! 

[Adreneline]

5 minutes ago, Paul Holdsworth said:

Absolutely stunning ! 

Thanks Paul - I'm glad you like it. It's looking clear here tonight so I might be lucky and grab a few more frames. 🤞

Adrian

[Adreneline]

Managed to add another five panes so now at 24 of the 40 intended.

It was an amazingly clear night last night. At 1.30 a.m. Andromeda was just visible with the naked eye and averted vision - a first for me.

Starless because the object of the exercise is to fully appreciate the extent of the nebulosity.

Next time it's clear I'm going to try to ensure I cover all of Sh2-129.

Adrian

[Adreneline]

A couple of screenshots to show the 24 pane version with stars and annotated. The jpg's are getting pretty big now - over 40 Mbytes.

Adrian

[MartinB]

Ah well, that's a bit of a shame.  The next SGL challenge will be images from Cepheus and Cassiopia.  Fantastic work.