Captured IC 2944 Running Chicken Nebula over 2 clear nights last week using my Mono set up for the first time on this target. I've imaged this object many times before but using a 2600MC OSC and Antlia Dualband filter.
Unfortunately at my City Suburban location I have a limited view to the South East and no view to the South, so could only manage a few hours each night on this target. The second night high cloud rolled in at 1am.
Location : Sydney , Australia
Skies : Bortle 8 heavy light polluted skies
Conditions : Average to Good Seeing
New Moon
Very light NE wind
No Dew
Backyard semi permanent set up
Telescope : 8" f5 Klaus Helmerich Carbon Fibre Newt
Mount : Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro
Imaging Camera : ZWO 2600MM temp -10C , Gain 100
Coma Corrector : TS Optics GPU
Filter Wheel : ZWO 7 x 2"
Filters : Antlia 3nm Ha , Oiii and Sii
Guide Scope : Orion 60mm with helical focuser
Guide Camera : ZWO 120MM
34 x 3min subs Ha
28 x 3 min subs Oiii
30 x 3 min subs Sii
Darks from Library
Bias from Library
Flats Ha, Oiii , Sii
Tracking and Goto : Eqmod and Stellarium
Aquisition : APT
Guiding : PHD2 ( 0.45 to 0.55 arc sec total rms avg )
Analysed , Calibrated and Stacked in ASTAP
Processed in Startools V1.8 ( Data Sets loaded into Compose , Color SHO: HST preset with tweaks in all colours )
Also used Startools Spatially Variant PSF Deconvolution ( 15 samples , 12 iterations ) to improve the resolution ( de blurr )
I did notice that particularly the Oiii and Sii signals were quite weak on this target. Definitely requires many more hours to produce a better detailed image. Integration time is king under heavy light polluted skies but again Mother Nature has dealt another blow with cloud for the next 2 week here on the East Coast.
Total integration around 5 hours
Astrobin link below for full resolution……
https://www.astrobin.com/dnjp4i/
Thanks for Looking
Comments Welcome
Martin