Hi all,
This is an image of IC5148 Also commonly known as the spare tyre nebula. It contains 38.25 hours of data and 25 hours of OIII data to bring out some of the halo. I was inspired to do the image based on the two images I have seen of it which show the fain halo; Don Goldman's and Mike Sidonio's images.
One of the by products of imaging this target was an interesting evaluation of two different imaging rigs from mine. One being Don's 20 Planewave f6.8 with Apogee U16M camera and the other Mike's 12" f3.8 Orion AG and Starlightexpress H694 sensor. Based on what I have gathered it appears that I would need about 55 hours or more of OIII data to equal Don's image and probably about 40 hours or slightly more OIII data to equal Mike's image. Such is the difference in the imaging speed of both scopes. Don's being a bit slower at f6.8 has the advantage of diameter over both the 12" scopes. Mike's scope has the fastest imaging speed and is remarkably close to Don's image. Clearly f8 has its disadvantages (focal length is its main advantage) and I will be considering this issue when I do eventually replace the 12" f8 I have at present. In any event it appears I need to do something like 3-4 times the integration on very faint targets for now.
As to the image I have produced, I really like the addition that the RGB data had to the NB data. If you look around you can see galaxies in the field with some very faint ones being seen in the background. It is a very interesting looking target and I have enjoyed imaging it.
Click here for larger resolution image.