A Giant Egg

[Addos]

...a giant egg (insert meme)!

NGC 6164 is a bipolar emission nebula of about 4 light-years across that lies some 4,200 light-years away in the southern constellation of Norma. HD 148937 sits at its heart and is 40 times more massive than the Sun.

The egg's bipolar symmetry, as well as its extensive halo makes it similar in appearance to planetary nebulae – the gaseous shrouds surrounding dying Sun-like stars.

Taken with what is becoming the trusty esprit 120 / 294mm / eq6r combo! 15 hrs of SHO blended with PIP functions for that faux natural look. ~1 hr RGB stars subbed in.

I like this little guy, hope you do too!

Higher res avail here: https://www.astrobin.com/ae2zw1/

[Stephane]

That’s a nice close up. Some good detail in the egg and around it too!

[Dave882]

Beautiful shot! You’ve brought out the shell nicely and the rest of the field is quite interesting too :thumbsup:

[kosborn]

That's a great image. A nice balance of the Ha and OIII which can be difficult.

[Nikolas]

The astrobin image really makes it stand out Adam, nice work!

[Addos]

Thanks guys! I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of detail in the Ha around the central star that came out just with unsharp mask and some contrast adjustments. Someone with a nice RC or SCT could get some amazing shots of that region close up!

[Dave882]

Actually I spent close to 10 hours on this with the c14 @ 2700mm (one of my full moon l-extreme projects) and can I say I can’t really spot much extra detail on my version in the central Ha core, and only a slight to moderate improvement on the detail in the Oiii outer shell. I think you’ve done exceptionally well, and I actually like seeing it with a bit of the surrounding nebulously I think it all works for a lovely pic!!

[Addos]

Thanks dude, thats exactly what I was going for! Yours sounds super interesting - link it?

[Dave882]

Well, interesting is probably the right word. Cause I haven’t got round to final processing of it so it’s certainly not pretty, polished or a finished work…but here’s a link (https://1drv.ms/u/s!ArpSiLT3VkGHiPJ9awOgCPU9OndciQ). :P

[Addos]

you're right, theres some real good o3 pickup there! love the tight view!!