Lower's Nebula Sh2-261 under Full Moon

[Budgie1]

Back in January, @ollypenrice posted an image of Sh2-261 and I said at the time that I would have a go at this target. Well, a month of so later and I finally had clear skies, be it under a full Moon, and manage to capture some data on it. Taken over the 24th & 25th February, I was fighting thin high cloud but managed 6 hours 5 Minutes on this, so far, using SHO filters.

The kit is as follows:

• HEQ5 with Rowan belt conversion
• ASI1600MM Pro at -10°C, Gain 139 & Offset 50
• Skywatcher Evostar 100ED DS Pro with 0.85 FF/FR
• Evoguide 50 guide scope with ASI120mm Mini camera

Filters:

• Baader Ha 3.5nm 1.25"
• Baader Oiii 4nm 1.25"
• Baader Sii 8nm 1.25"

The Ha had the strongest signal with some Sii and hardly any Oiii showing. I've tried to drag as much out the 6 hours as I can but it was quite noisy and needs more data, less Moon & clouds to get it better.

Here's the data so far, comments welcomed as always.

[tomato]

Great result given your conditions. Oiii will be very hard to collect under a full moon.

[Budgie1]

3 hours ago, tomato said:

Oiii will be very hard to collect under a full moon.

I should have shot the Oiii first, before the Moon was above the hills. All three filters need more data anyway, so that's the plan for the next clear night.  

[ollypenrice]

Nice to see this getting some attention. As you demonstrate, it's a fine nebula.

Olly

[Budgie1]

I managed to add another 20x 300s Oiii subs to the stack last night, with no Moon showing.

Clouds prevented more Ha being obtained, so that's for the next session.

Here's the image with the extra data added and it now consists of:

• Ha - 32x 300s = 2h40m
• Sii - 25x 300s = 2h5m
• Oiii - 41x 300s = 3h25m
• Total integration time to date: 8h10m

See if you think there's an improvement with the extra Oiii added.

[Budgie1]

Last one for now with Lower's. I managed to get another hour's worth of data last night for it became too tiresome stopping for clouds. How do the clouds know where you're imaging, the rest of the sky was clear, apart from the bit I was using? 

Anyway, this is a large version with the following totals:

• Ha - 41x 300s = 3h25m
• Sii - 30x 300s = 2h30m
• Oiii - 39x 300s = 3h15m
• Total integration time to date: 9h10m

Two of the Oiii subs were rejected during the restack by WBPP, so that's why the number of Oiii subs has reduced.