Mike Lewis
Staff Member
This is a target that I had only imaged for a short time in just Hα. I have wanted to get back to it and create something with a full set of NB filtered data and finally had the chance. Even so, due to the non-optimal placement, this was only visible to image starting at about ~2 a.m. local time here in CO, and so made for some early mornings to first kick off the data collections and then to get up later to shut things off and safe the equipment right before the sun started to get close enough to the horizon to affect the data. This gave me slightly more than a 3 hour window to take data each good night. Even so, I eventually ended up with over 23 hours of data collected over 8 nights between the 9th and the 21st of the month. This is what is required to find useful narrowband targets to image during 'galaxy season' 
Due to some other challenges with gear, this data was all collected unguided.
This is also the first time I have purposefully collected more data in the weaker NB channels (OIII and SII in the case of this target) to try to tame the noise when stretching and make the mixing easier. This allowed for an almost straight SHO channel combination with just a little tweaking. I actually thought to save myself some trouble by running a quick and dirty color mix on the majority of the data, and was initially excited at the results I was getting. This ultimately turned to dismay when I then struggled mightily to achieve the same color mix when I had the full data set to process. So much for short cuts This has my usual processing flow for narrowband, with the stars removed initially and then added back using a small RGB stack to the starless NB nebula frame via layers in Photoshop close to the end of the processing flow.
A somewhat larger version is also available here:
https://www.astrobin.com/full/de777n/0/
Equipment:
ZWO ASI1600MM-C Camera @ -15C and
Gain:200 Offset:50
Software Bisque MyT Mount
Stellarvue SVQ100 Astrograph Refractor, 580mm @ f/5.8
Software:
Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8
Lightroom CC
Photoshop CC
Light Frames:
Hα: 62 x 360 secs (6 hrs 12 mins)
OIII: 81 x 360 secs (8 hrs 06 mins)
SII: 84 x 360 secs (8 hrs 24 mins)
Red:16 x 30 secs (8 mins)
Green:16 x 30 secs (8 mins)
Blue: 16 x 30 secs (8 mins)
23 hrs 06 mins total
Dark Frames:
10 x 30 secs, RGB (5 mins)
10 x 360 secs, Ha,OIII,SII (3 hrs)
Bias Frames
60
Flat Frames
20 each filter
From Wikipedia:
The Pelican Nebula (also known as IC 5070 and IC 5067[1]) is an H II region associated with the North America Nebula in the constellation Cygnus. The gaseous contortions of this emission nebula bear a resemblance to a pelican, giving rise to its name.[1] The Pelican Nebula is located nearby first magnitude star Deneb, and is divided from its more prominent neighbour, the North America Nebula, by a molecular cloud filled with dark dust.
The Pelican is much studied because it has a particularly active mix of star formation and evolving gas clouds.
As always, comments, questions, and critiques most welcome.
ML
Due to some other challenges with gear, this data was all collected unguided. This is also the first time I have purposefully collected more data in the weaker NB channels (OIII and SII in the case of this target) to try to tame the noise when stretching and make the mixing easier. This allowed for an almost straight SHO channel combination with just a little tweaking. I actually thought to save myself some trouble by running a quick and dirty color mix on the majority of the data, and was initially excited at the results I was getting. This ultimately turned to dismay when I then struggled mightily to achieve the same color mix when I had the full data set to process. So much for short cuts
This has my usual processing flow for narrowband, with the stars removed initially and then added back using a small RGB stack to the starless NB nebula frame via layers in Photoshop close to the end of the processing flow.A somewhat larger version is also available here:
https://www.astrobin.com/full/de777n/0/
Equipment:
ZWO ASI1600MM-C Camera @ -15C and
Gain:200 Offset:50
Software Bisque MyT Mount
Stellarvue SVQ100 Astrograph Refractor, 580mm @ f/5.8
Software:
Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8
Lightroom CC
Photoshop CC
Light Frames:
Hα: 62 x 360 secs (6 hrs 12 mins)
OIII: 81 x 360 secs (8 hrs 06 mins)
SII: 84 x 360 secs (8 hrs 24 mins)
Red:16 x 30 secs (8 mins)
Green:16 x 30 secs (8 mins)
Blue: 16 x 30 secs (8 mins)
23 hrs 06 mins total
Dark Frames:
10 x 30 secs, RGB (5 mins)
10 x 360 secs, Ha,OIII,SII (3 hrs)
Bias Frames
60
Flat Frames
20 each filter
From Wikipedia:
The Pelican Nebula (also known as IC 5070 and IC 5067[1]) is an H II region associated with the North America Nebula in the constellation Cygnus. The gaseous contortions of this emission nebula bear a resemblance to a pelican, giving rise to its name.[1] The Pelican Nebula is located nearby first magnitude star Deneb, and is divided from its more prominent neighbour, the North America Nebula, by a molecular cloud filled with dark dust.
The Pelican is much studied because it has a particularly active mix of star formation and evolving gas clouds.
As always, comments, questions, and critiques most welcome.
ML
