NGC 7023 Region

[Andy Elliott]

This is a 3-panel mosaic of the region around NGC7023, in the constellation Cepheus, taken during May this year. The designation NGC 7023 actually refers to the open cluster of stars within the larger blue reflection nebula which is designated as LBN 487.

NGC 7023, also known as the Iris Nebula because of its flower-like shape, is a bright reflection nebula. The bluish glow of the nebula comes from a hot, massive star at the centre of the nebula. Blue light from the star is scattered off dust grains in the nebula, giving it its distinctive colour. The dust can also be seen on the outer portions of the nebula, where it has a brownish colour and blocks out stars behind it.

To the right of NGC 7023 lies another reflection nebula, SH2-136. The nebula’s clouds of dust and gas have shapes that resemble human figures with their arms raised, giving rise to its popular name as the Ghost Nebula. These clouds contain several young stars whose light makes the nebula glow a brownish colour.

The full res image can be found here: https://astrob.in/cc1w9i/0/

Gear:

Skywatcher Esprit 100ED

Skywatcher EQ6R Pro

ASI2600MC (OSC)


Acquisition: N.I.N.A

Lights for each panel: 150 x 150s

Processed in Pixinsight.

 

[AlanLichty]

The clouds of gas and dust add a lot of visual elements to this scene - its like the nebula are peeking out from behind it.

 

[JimFox]

Hey Andy!

This is really great looking. I really like how you were able to bring out all of the gasses and dark nebula so well. That's not easy to do at all.

And the Iris nebula is a really cool object. I haven't captured it or the Ghost nebula yet.

Any tips on doing a mosaic in Pixinsight. I am thinking that I need to take that step and do one. Not sure what of, but I feel like I need to learn how to do a Mosaic. ASIAir can make the capturing part easy for me as it has a mosaic ability built in, but I am not sure how to stitch the panel's together yet.

 

[Andy Elliott]

Hey Andy!

This is really great looking. I really like how you were able to bring out all of the gasses and dark nebula so well. That's not easy to do at all.

And the Iris nebula is a really cool object. I haven't captured it or the Ghost nebula yet.

Any tips on doing a mosaic in Pixinsight. I am thinking that I need to take that step and do one. Not sure what of, but I feel like I need to learn how to do a Mosaic. ASIAir can make the capturing part easy for me as it has a mosaic ability built in, but I am not sure how to stitch the panel's together yet.

Hi Jim, thanks for the feedback. Compiling a mosaic in PI is actually fairly straightforward, so long as each of your panels has been plate solved (which you can easily do in PI). Its basically a 3 step process:

Good luck!

 

[Andy Elliott]

The clouds of gas and dust add a lot of visual elements to this scene - its like the nebula are peeking out from behind it.

Thanks Alan, yes I was pretty pleased with the details I managed to pull of the gas clouds, considering the lack of decent dark skies at this time of year.

 

[JimFox]

Hi Jim, thanks for the feedback. Compiling a mosaic in PI is actually fairly straightforward, so long as each of your panels has been plate solved (which you can easily do in PI). Its basically a 3 step process:

Good luck!

Thanks Andy! I actually like Russel's videos, so I will watch that right now.

 

[JimFox]

Hey Andy, I watched the video and it looks pretty simple. What I did notice right away, is that Russel built the mosaic out of non processed stacks it looks like. Somehow I had thought with all of the gradients and such, that I would have to process my stacks individually to clean them up first, and then process the mosaic. But it looks like you do the mosaic first, and then do the processing. How are you doing it?

 

[Andy Elliott]

Hey Andy, I watched the video and it looks pretty simple. What I did notice right away, is that Russel built the mosaic out of non processed stacks it looks like. Somehow I had thought with all of the gradients and such, that I would have to process my stacks individually to clean them up first, and then process the mosaic. But it looks like you do the mosaic first, and then do the processing. How are you doing it?

Hi Jim. I found that doing the mosaic creation steps on non-linear images worked best (for this image anyway). I did all the linear processing stuff (dynamic crop, dbe etc) first for each stacked panel. If you use dynamic crop you will need to apply the plate solving again (I use the 'Copy Co-ordinates' script to copy it over from the original panel stack). I then attempted to match as far as possible the background for each panel, then I did a non-linear stretch on each panel, before doing the mosaic steps. I have attached my workflow, if that helps.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Sorry I missed this when first posted, a really really strong image, the widefield composition and the deep field with lots of surrounding dust and gas take this one to another level. Really great job!

ML

 

[JimFox]

Hi Jim. I found that doing the mosaic creation steps on non-linear images worked best (for this image anyway). I did all the linear processing stuff (dynamic crop, dbe etc) first for each stacked panel. If you use dynamic crop you will need to apply the plate solving again (I use the 'Copy Co-ordinates' script to copy it over from the original panel stack). I then attempted to match as far as possible the background for each panel, then I did a non-linear stretch on each panel, before doing the mosaic steps. I have attached my workflow, if that helps.

Hey Andy, thanks btw for this write up! It's really helpful. I like video tutorials, but maybe I am too old school, as I like to be able to read instructions like you did here. Thanks so much for this.

 

[Andy Elliott]

Sorry I missed this when first posted, a really really strong image, the widefield composition and the deep field with lots of surrounding dust and gas take this one to another level. Really great job!

ML

Cheers Mike.