The Coathanger (Collinder 399)

[geeklee]

This was shot over a couple of nights (one in August and one in September) and comprises 113 x 120s (~3.75h) with my Epsilon 130D and 2600MC. 

A tricky background removal due to local light pollution and the general star field - I ran a few versions side by side through processing and settled on this one. 

The faint blue reflection areas are starting to appear nicely and elements of very faint background Ha are adding a little extra colour in places. Sh2-83 is the little blob of Ha lower left of centre.

Captured with NINA, pre-processed in APP and processed in PixInsight.

Thanks for looking.

[Adreneline]

That 130D is definitely delivering the goods Lee - all that time you spent setting it up has really paid off.

It is good to see the Coathanger in context.

Adrian

[CraigT82]

That is lovely. Is that an OC just off to the right end of the hanger? 

[geeklee]

3 hours ago, Adreneline said:

That 130D is definitely delivering the goods Lee

Thanks Adrian.  The software plays a big part, my skill level can only do so much with the hardware.  The extremities always need tidied up a little in processing.

2 hours ago, CraigT82 said:

Is that an OC just off to the right end of the hanger? 

Thanks Craig.  Yeah, it's NGC 6802 to the right and IC 1299 to left of Sh2-83.

[WolfieGlos]

Probably the best picture I’ve seen of the Coathanger Lee, what a nice image, full of colour, and the star spikes add in a little extra which I like to see on images of clusters. Well done 👍

[geeklee]

13 hours ago, WolfieGlos said:

Well done 👍

Thanks Chris, really appreciate the positive feedback.

13 hours ago, WolfieGlos said:

spikes

I used to be fairly indifferent towards diffraction spikes, until something clicked on my certain images really stood out to me... it would be hard to go back now and I miss them in my other scopes   I wouldn't miss the challenges mirrors bring though! 😅