NGC 3324 Gabriela Mistral Nebula under a Full Moon

[Startrek]

Haven’t captured NGC 3324 in Sydney yet ( only down South from my Obs) and last week offered some clear reasonably stable nights with the good ol moon lighting up the backyard ( as well as neighbours flood lights )

Captured over 2 nights
My trusty little 6” Newt
EQ6-R pro mount
ZWO 2600MC cooled to -10C , Gain 101 Ascom
Antlia ALPT 5nm Dualband OSC filter
150 x 2 min dithered guided subs
2 x 40 Flats
60 x Bias
PHD2 Multistar guiding ( 0.45 to 0.55 arc sec total )
My granddaughter accidentally tripped over the leg of my tripod ( I found out later ) so during the first night I noticed field rotation and drift after about 30 subs
(PA was around 22 arc min )
2nd night I polar aligned to 1 to 2 arc min and then started my imaging session
again.
During processing I did notice that the fainter stars weren’t perfectly round , they did have a slight slant as a result of bad PA on the first night.
Anyway the image scrubbed up ok in the end
The resultant noise floor was quite low ( the Antlia 5nm OSC filter is far superior to my old L Extreme )

As far as framing is concerned I usually squeeze in the Gem cluster but this time opted to capture more of the main structure of this glorious nebula , the little gem is just out of frame

Stacked in DSS ( OSC multiple nights stacking )
Processed in Startools V1.8 OSC Bi colour Narrowband

Synthetic Luminance version
Bi Colour mapping in SHO ( 3 versions )

Astrobin link here

https://www.astrobin.com/vthsv9/

Strongman Mike calls me the Andy Warhol of OSC narrowband imaging

Comments welcome
Thanks

[TrevorW]

Nice image needs a good few hours of integrated frames to bring out the detail. What the general consensus theses days with the latest CMOS cameras with darks and bias frames I've found that with my QQHY268c I don't need them. :)

[Ryderscope]

A good project Martin that has definitely scrubbed up well. The ASI2600 is delivering good results for you.

[strongmanmike]

Yeah Andy, I do like this framing, juuust a tad more to the right and it would have been peeerfect :D ..just so all of Gabby's straggling beard was in the frame :thumbsup:

Mike

[Startrek]

Thanks Trevor
Whilst a OSC doesn’t collect the amount of signal like a Mono does , you can still produce some half decent narrowband images , it just requires a lot more data and processing
Under my Bortle 7/8 skies in Sydney , most of the brighter emission nebula require at least 4 to 5 hours minimum.But there is a point of diminishing return which for me is around 10 to 12 hours. With Mono the point of diminishing return is probably twice or three times that of Mono, obviously dependant upon each object and sky conditions.
It’s taken a while but I’ve got my 2600MC with the Antlia filter performing well under heavy light pollution.
As far as calibration goes with the 2600MC , I spent months testing different calibration combinations and techniques and found that Flats calibrated with Bias frames work best.
Darks are definitely not required for the 2600MC
Check out Cloudy Nights for folk using the 2600MC , the general consensus is Flats and Bias , with some folk opting for Dark Flats instead

Cheers
Martin

[Startrek]

Thanks Rodney
Yep top OSC camera under all conditions and targets
The 2600MM is on my radar

Cheers
Martin

[Startrek]

Thanks Mike
Yep a tad to the right
Great target too !

Cheers
Andy