IC1283 Emission Nebula RGBHOO

[Doogs38 (Alex)]

Hi folks. I've surprised myself by finding time to shoot another target, albeit one less seen here (read almost never): IC1283 ... sometimes called the Twiddlebug Nebula. IC1283 is the Ha ionized (emission) nebula at the centre of the image, and the two blue reflection nebulae to its right are NGC6589 and NGC6590. It's a gem visible during winter and is a mix of everything - I love the dark lanes and the striking contrast between the emission and reflection nebulas. The dense star field is pretty cool too.

Details are: 22h 31 mins of data collected for an RGBHOO image.

SW 120ED, OSC ASI294MC, OAG with ASI294, AZ-EQ6 mount, NINA
RGB Ultra (Antlia) - 10h 19m
Ha-Oiii (Antlia) - 7h 52m
Hb-Sii (Antlia) - 4h 20m

Processed in PI and PS.

Sharing for fun, as always. Hi-res here. Thanks for looking. Alex

[Mickoid (Michael)]

A really nice shot Alex, 22 hrs has given you a splendid result from light polluted skies. Your processing is very good too, the Hi res reinforces that. The set up you have is singing! Haven't seen this object on the forum before so thanks for showing it to us!

[Cyberman (Rob)]

That's a great image Alex. You've really tamed those 294s. If I even moved to an astrocamera , these might suit my rig because they are a bit lighter than some of the other cameras. I read that sometimes the MC needs longer flats to avoid some sort of defect occurring. Do you also need longer flats with the MM. Cheers, Rob

[Doogs38 (Alex)]

Thanks Michael and Rob. I specifically went looking for something different in our winter skies and while it’s not a gloriously colourful SHO or RGB target, I think it’s interesting nonetheless.

Rob, I like the 294Mx cameras and especially the mono. The OSC stays connected to my 120ED refractor, and the mono gets swapped between my 8” SCT and 82ED refractor. On the SCT I use Bin2 (2x2 binned) for the large 4.63um pixel size which is a good-ish fit for the SCT’s long focal length; on the 82ED I use Bin1 which halves the pixel size (unbinned) and is a good fit for the refractor’s short focal length (and produces big, hi-res, detailed images). The OSC doesn’t allow you to change the bin mode - it’s large 4.63um pixels only.

Good flats are important for 294Mx cameras and producing them has not been problematic for me (with NINA and ASIAIR). Note: unlike my 533MC camera, 294Mx flats can look pretty funky and colourful dependent on the filter being used - that’s just a characteristic of the 294Mx sensor. I’ve found that 5 - 6 sec flats produce great results (with matching darkflats of the same period). Alex