Heart of the Heart - Part 1

[Mike]

Got my OIII and SII filters today so as it was clear went out to do a narrowband colour image of something. I chose IC1805, the Heart Nebula in Cassiopeia. I was doing 4 x 15 min subs for each colour channel. I did 2 x 15m and then the clouds started to roll across during frame 3 so had to abandon it. I then started packing up and got near completion when it cleared again !! DOH !!

Anyway, here is the 30 minutes of the Ha channel that I managed to get. The original is twice the width and height as I was Binning at x1 for full resolution. I have reduced it by 50% for the forum. It's not processed or calibrated at all.

Will post up the colour image when I get a chance to take the rest of the data. The entire of the Heart Nebula is HUGE (approx 1 degree across!) so I will get the entire thing one day by making a mosaic. Will need many many hours of exposures to get the whole thing though so don't hold your breath.

[JohnP]

Hi Mike-Impressive - 15min exposures- you must have really sorted out your alignment/tracking issues - stars look pin sharp - nice one - John

[Mike]

Yeah I reckon I could do up to an hour easily. It is just safer to do shorter ones I think in case a cloud or an airplane goes across the frame and ruins it. Better to ruin 1 x 15m out of 4 than an hour !!

[Mike]

Did the other 30m tonight and I am doing the OIII and the SII as I write this. Found it is still pretty dim even after an hour. Must be because it is in Vin 1x1 mode. Probably going to need at least 2 hours per channel.

Anyway, here is a crop from the middle of the Ha channel with an hour of exposure so far. Working on the other channels for the colour version as I write this. Note that this has not been calibrated yet with darks, flats, etc.