A dive into the depths of IC 1396

[mftoet]

Going deep on IC 1396, the Elephant's Trunk Nebula. This is a two pane mosaic of image data captured during an exceptionally long clear spell in the Netherlands from the end of May to the midst of June. Data reduction and composing the image in SHO 'Hubble Palette' was performed in Astro Pixel Processor. BlurXTerminator was applied in PixInsight. PixInsight was also used to remove the magenta hue of the stars by inverting the SHO image and applying SCNR. Post-processing (StarXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator, contrast and colour enhancement) was performed in Photoshop CC.

 

Integration time: 52 hours, 10 minutes (234x 300" SII 4nm, 160x 300" Hα 3.5nm, 232x 300" OIII 4nm - 2x1 pane mosaic) | Optics: Takahashi ε-180ED f/2.8 | Camera: ZWO ASI2600MM Pro (B 1x1, G 100, T -15 °C) | Acquisition: ZWO ASIair Pro | Filter: Baader Planetarium f/3 Ultra-Highspeed | Mount: Astro-Physics Mach1 GTO | Location: Zoetermeer, Netherlands | Date: 26, 27, 28 & 31 May and 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14 & 16 June 2023

 

 

 

[Adreneline]

Excellent Maurice - a very deft touch with the processing with great colour palette.

Looks like the Tak-ε is doing a great job for you with very nice stars all the way to the corners.

Adrian

[mftoet]

Thank you, Adrian. It has been 10 years since I acquired the Epsilon-180. Still one of my best purchases in this hobby!

[Clarkey]

3 hours ago, mftoet said:

during an exceptionally long clear spell

I have had the exceptionally long clear spell. Unfortunately, too far north for anything resembling darkness☹️

Very nice capture and processing.👍