IC 2944 Running Chicken Nebula in SHO

[Startrek]

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

[Davidpmcadam]

Martin,
Very nice image. I suspect that getting good weather for imaging over the next few weeks for me is unlikely.

[Nikolas]

Love the muted colours and the details

[alpal]

That's a spectacular image Martin,
I would have been tempted to cheat and done some contrast
enhancements in the center of the image with blurred layer masks.


cheers
Allan

[Dave882]

That’s beautiful Martin. So good to finally get some clear sky ay ! I’m really loving what you’re producing with the new mono setup… fantastic definition and detail. Great work

[floyd_2]

Wow Martin. You're nailing it mate. Beautiful shot with heaps of detail to pour over. How long do you estimate that you spent in post processing?

[Startrek]

Thanks All for your lovely comments
Much appreciated

Martin

[Startrek]

Dean,

I stack in both DSS and ASTAP to compare results ( about an hour or so ) usually use the ASTAP result to load into Startools as it seems a bit cleaner
Post processing in Startools ( about 1 to 2 hours ) plus a few tweaks later on ( say total 2 to 3 hours )

Martin

[Ryderscope]

A lovely narrowband rendition of ‘the chook’ :) I particularly like the colour pallet and the composition works well with the bright star in the upper left and the body of the nebula towards the bottom right of the image :thumbsup:

[Startrek]

Thanks Rodney
Much appreciated
Gives me confidence with my rig and new Mono gear under crappy skies in Sydney as this image was only 4 or 5 hours of data
You look on Astrobin and folk are pouring 10, 20 and up to 30 odd hours into their narrowband images. I wish I had that many clear nights in Sydney over a month or two to collect 30 hours on one object. Us City coastal huggers have a lot to deal with but we do our best.
I am fortunate to have an Obs 220km south of Sydney under Bortle 3 skies and when it’s clear it’s unbelievable. Chalk and cheese both locations.

Still very pleased with this result
Cheers
Martin

[subhashish]

That is an amazing image Martin, the colors are a perfection. Really mastered it.

[RobF]

Sounds like a beautiful scope. Very nice soft rendition of the Running Chicken too. Nice :)

[Startrek]

Thanks so much
Considering relatively short integration I’m quite happy with what detail could be pulled out
Martin

[Stephane]

Very nice Martin, especially the nebula. I like the way you’ve processed the colours and drawn out the fainter gases. Nice natural variations in brightness too. Great job!

[Startrek]

Thanks Rob
Actually just the Carbon tube was manufactured by KH , I fitted the scope out with my own GSO mirrors , spider , focuser etc….
It’s really a home built Teleskope Express TS Optics TPC8F5 ( couldn’t wait 6 months to secure one , the KH Carbon tube was delivered in 7 weeks so I made my own Newt )
Yeh pretty happy with the image , more data would have been nice , I only got an hour or two on clear nights as my house and trees block the majority of its path

Cheers
Martin