Herbig-Haro objects in the Pelican Nebula

A place to share images that you have taken with SharpCap.
Forum rules
Please upload large images to photo sharing sites (flickr, etc) rather than trying to upload them as forum attachments.

Please share the equipment used and if possible camera settings to help others.
Post Reply
User avatar
Menno555
Posts: 1053
Joined: Mon Apr 20, 2020 2:19 pm
Location: The Netherlands
Contact:

Herbig-Haro objects in the Pelican Nebula

#1

Post by Menno555 »

Active region in the Pelican Nebula (IC 5070) in H-alpha, H-beta, O-III, N-II, and S-II with multiband filters
The Netherlands in Bortle 7/8
My first *real* DSO capture. Before this, captures of maybe 1 hour. This one is 5:20 hours in total.
And still without guiding ;)

This is a part of the Pelican Nebula with star formation. It includes several Herbig-Haro (HH) objects of which HH 555 is the most prominent one.
An HH-object is a jet of particles and gas ejecting from forming stars. This with several hundreds of kilometres per hour.
In the top of the large, vertical dust pillar is an invisible forming star. But the jets are visible, in this case the small horizontal line.
Other HH-objects are there but not with such prominent outbursts.

Meade LX65 8" f/10 ACF OTA
Ioptron CEM25EC mount (no guiding)
Optolong L-Pro multiband filter
Optolong L-eNhance multiband filter
Zwo ASI294MC Pro camera

Captured with SharpCap Pro @ -10 graden Celsius / Offset 30 / White balance R50/B50
160 x 60 sec / Optolong L-Pro (over several night in between bands of clouds)
80 x 120 sec / Optolong L-eNhance

Stacked in DeepSkyStacker with 100 darks (experiment) + 100 flats + 100 dark flats for every set.
Stacked the L-Pro set, saved as FITS
Stacked the L-eNhance set, saved as FITS
Stacked the 2 saved FITS, saved as TIF

Processed in PS: Levels, Curves, Shadows/Highlights, color strengthening. Astronomy Tools actions: Contrast enhancement, noise reduction.
Copy/paste and black/white conversion including altering the color channels to grey.
Made composition, bit more noise reduction.

Full version can be found here: https://i.imgur.com/Jynq5CW.jpg

Image
RonAM
Posts: 60
Joined: Sun Nov 04, 2018 4:39 pm
Location: Midwest US City

Re: Herbig-Haro objects in the Pelican Nebula

#2

Post by RonAM »

Fabulous image! Thanks for taking the time to acquire it, and to share the details. I have recently started using the same camera and am extremely impressed with its capabilities.

Cheers and clear skies,

Ron
User avatar
Menno555
Posts: 1053
Joined: Mon Apr 20, 2020 2:19 pm
Location: The Netherlands
Contact:

Re: Herbig-Haro objects in the Pelican Nebula

#3

Post by Menno555 »

Thanks Ron!
And yes, here too impressed. I was doubting at the time cause I'd already spend a bit of money on all this ... but I'm glad I did :)

Menno
timh
Posts: 515
Joined: Mon Aug 26, 2019 5:50 pm

Re: Herbig-Haro objects in the Pelican Nebula

#4

Post by timh »

That is really very impressive. Quite an advertisement for really looking in detail at longer focal lengths and also for how well the two filters have worked. I like my Astronomik UHC filter but am now quite tempted by the narrower two band type. Per our other discussion on minimising any AS1294 banding I note also the large number of darks you used. It is interesting that you haven't used any guiding. The results look fine. I have been using guiding mainly in order to dither because I thought that would minimise some pattern noise but your results suggest that it is quite unnecessary - at least for exposure up to 120s.

best wishes
Tim
User avatar
Menno555
Posts: 1053
Joined: Mon Apr 20, 2020 2:19 pm
Location: The Netherlands
Contact:

Re: Herbig-Haro objects in the Pelican Nebula

#5

Post by Menno555 »

Thanks Tim!
Yes, 100 darks. Was a bit of an experiment. It looks like 40 to 70 darks will work fine. Not for the noise, then you only need like 20 orso.
But the higher amount of darks really helps with the horizontal banding, depending how much you stretch in processing.
And these filters rock :) I now have the Optolong L-Pro (which is really a kind of light pollution filter cause it covers 5 emissions) and the L-eNhance (H-Alph, H-Beta and OIII) and I am very tempted also to get the L-Extreme too (H-Alpha and OIII).
As for no guiding: works great. At least, so far. With the 249 I did notice that longer (for me 180 seconds is long) gives no pattern noise. But shorter exposures (20 to 30 seconds) does. But that simply is a matter of a minimal random slew each 20 frames orso.
But all that really is because of the Ioptron CEM25EC mount: it's tracking is more then excellent due to its optical encoders. Expensive mount but worth every penny :)
Post Reply