Ic 4685

[CoolhandJo]

IC 4685 Chinese Dragon Nebula

With many more clear nights I decided to image the Chinese Dragon Nebula. It was perfectly positioned in the sky to take advantage of long exposure times. This is just under 30 hours of data Mono SHO 600 sec ea filter x 59

Total integration: 29h 30m

Integration per filter:
- Hα: 9h 50m (59 × 600")
- SII: 9h 50m (59 × 600")
- OIII: 9h 50m (59 × 600")

Equipment:
- Telescope: Askar 103APO
- Camera: ZWO ASI533MM Pro
- Mount: ZWO AM3
- Filters: Antlia 3nm Narrowband H-alpha 1.25", Antlia 3nm Narrowband Oxygen III 1.25", Antlia 3nm Narrowband Sulfur II 1.25"
- Accessory: Askar 0.8x Reducer for APO103
- Software: Adobe Photoshop, Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight

For more information, visit AstroBin:
https://app.astrobin.com/i/4anvhx

[CoolhandJo]

Fixed the background

[Peter Ward]

Nicely done. :thumbsup:

Like the NB palette choice too ;)

[Startrek]

Paul,
Thanks for posting
Nice rendition of this weird looking nebula
Colour is spot on too , love that blue
It’s one of the rare objects that doesn’t exhibit rigid structure , it’s more fluff and fuzz.
I imaged this one last year and couldn’t get the blue / cyan to pop in the central region , maybe not enough quality Oiii data. Mine had only about 12 hours from memory.
That coronary artery running through the middle is a unique feature and yours is well resolved.
As I’m a Newt user and not a fan of AI , I do like my star field to be more dominant. The stars in this image seem to be a tad dimmed ? ( these emission nebula are stellar nurseries ) all subjective by the way and only my opinion.

Well done on another beautiful image !!

Martin

[CoolhandJo]

Your spot on! I definatly got the stars wrong as i dimmed them too much. Also yes this is a fluffy nebula. I turned down the use of AI but I think on fluffy nebula it risks looking artifical.

Lessons learnt for next time

But thank you very much for the commnets!

[AstroJason]

Really nice capture Paul. I love that dark nebula running through the middle. You're getting great detail with that camera and scope combo!

[Pierre_C]

Well done, Paul.
An engaging composition of a well chosen target.

[CoolhandJo]

Thanks Pierre



Thanks Jason