The Obsy Keeps Producing

The Obsy Keeps Producing

Another evening home from work, another clear couple of hours, and another bunch of data collected.  In my last post, I spoke about how I'm not able to currently image the full Heart Nebula with the scope and camera combination I currently use.  I moved on to concentrate on the centre of the nebular, the open cluster Melotte 15.  I had heard of the Fish Head nebula before, but I didn't appreciate where in the sky I could find it.  When I realised that it was a further part of the Heart Nebula, I decided to give it a go.

I have left the Altair Quadband filter in place.  One of the selling points of this filter to me was that I would be able to continue imaging under bright moonlight.  I must admit being a bit unsure about this to start off, but always willing to try something new, I set about this particular imaging run under a 94% moon.

The tech bit...

59 x 3min light frames.

Dark and flats.  No bias frames.

Altair Hypercam 183c.

Altair quadband filter.

Starwave 80ED-R

SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro.

Captured in Sharpcap Pro.

Processed in Pixinsight.

The bits I'm pleased about...

• I can produce a reasonable image despite bright levels of moonlight!
• The variety of different colour stars produced.
• The framing of the nebula, albeit 90 degrees out!

The bits I'm not so pleased about...

• Ringing around the stars.  I have read that this might be a side effect of the filter, but I have also read that I should be able to deal with it during processing.
• Background noise in the darker areas.

Overall, I'm really pleased with the results.  Even though my hypercam is the first generation of this type of camera from Altair, and has since been superseded several times over, I'm amazed how much I can produce with it.  

Clear skies everyone!