I’ve always been drawn to more obscure objects, especially dark nebulae. Their elusive nature makes them particularly rewarding to capture, both in acquisition and in processing. And this particular target was one of my biggest challenges yet. It took nearly two years—almost to the day—to process it to a point where I was genuinely happy with the result. I spent ages gathering the data, imagining the final image would blow me away... but each processing attempt left me underwhelmed. Eventually, I shelved the data onto an old hard drive and moved on.
Fast-forward to last week—I decided to give the data another crack, this time using PixInsight. And wow, what a difference. Processing felt so much easier compared to Photoshop.
The image was shot over multiple nights in July 2023 with my unmodded Canon 6D. It’s the result of 173 x 10-minute subs, totaling about 28.8 hours of integration time—my longest session on a single target to date. (
For comparison, my previous longest was 16 hours here)
While processing, I noticed something unexpected. A disk-like structure with white light emanating from its sides. It reminded me of torchlight beaming out from behind an obscured globe. My first thought was that I’d introduced some weird artifact… but after some googling, I discovered it appeared in other images too. That little revelation felt like confirmation I was finally heading in the right direction. The second image is a 200% zoom of the feature—anyone know what it’s called/what it is?
Equipment used:
SkyWatcher NEQ6 Mount
SkyWatcher Esprit 100ED
SkyWatcher Evoguide 50ED
ZWO ASIAIR Plus
ZWO EAF
ZWO ASI 120MM Mini Guide Camera
Unmodded Canon 6D
Aquisition Dates: 14/07/2023 to 23/07/2023
Integration time: 28.8 hours
Calibration frames: Darks and Bias
Stacking: DSS
Processing: PixInsight and Photoshop
I also started an
AstroBin Account and really recommend seeing the
full res version here.
I am really happy with how this image finally turned out! Thanks for looking and feedback is always appreciated!
