NGC 1514 Crystal Ball Nebula / First light Zwo ASI071MC Pro

[Menno555]

Well, finally got enough data to process NGC 1514. The weather here is really terrible for the last 2 months. It really was setting up, capture maybe 30 minutes and then clouds and rain again
Also first light (finally) of my Zwo ASI071MC Pro camera. Have to find the right backfocus distance (the stars on the edges are not good) and also the white balance (it's way greener then the ASI294MC Pro I had).

NGC 1514 is a double shell planetary nebula in Taurus. It has a apparent magnitude of 10 and is at around 1000 light years distance.
I did find it surprisingly big and some nice features in it.
Did use the Optolong L-Pro filter (120se) and the Optolong L-eNhance filter (180sec). And like usual, no guiding

The full 4400px version can be found here: https://i.ibb.co/YhtPsYk/NGC1514.jpg

Bortle 7/8
Meade LX200 8" f/10 ACF OTA
Ioptron CEM25EC mount (no guiding)
Optolong L-Pro filter
Optolong L-eNhance filter
Zwo ASI071MC Pro camera

Captured with SharpCap Pro @ -10 Celsius
Optolong L-Pro filter: 73 x 120 sec / Gain 120 / Offset 8 / White balance R50 B50 /darks, flats and darkflats
Optolong L-eNhance filter: 20 x 180 sec/ Gain 90 / Offset 20 / White balance R50 B50 / darks, flats and darkflats

Stacked with DeepSkyStacker

Processed in SiriL and Photoshop
SiriL: photometric color calibration
Photoshop: levels, curves, shadows/highlights, noise reduction

NGC 1514

NGC1514.jpg (401.72 KiB) Viewed 1377 times

[turfpit]

Very good Menno. Many of the planetary nebulae are not easy objects (M27 being one exception).

Dave

[admin]

Hi Menno,

looks great - how do you deal with thermal tube currents in your SCT (or don't they show up in deep sky?). I found that however long I waited there was still turbulence in the tube because the top of the tube is cooled (exposed to space) and the bottom is warmed by the ground.

Robin

[Menno555]

Very good Menno. Many of the planetary nebulae are not easy objects (M27 being one exception).

Dave

Thanks Dave! And yes, some of them are challenging ... but that's part of the fun of course

Hi Menno,

looks great - how do you deal with thermal tube currents in your SCT (or don't they show up in deep sky?). I found that however long I waited there was still turbulence in the tube because the top of the tube is cooled (exposed to space) and the bottom is warmed by the ground.

Robin

Thanks Robin. And my answer: I don't deal with them It's something I never payed attention to or did notice. Maybe cause I am on my balcony at around 15 meters from the ground, so my ground is a slab of concrete? And my scope is high on the mount: I am 2 meters tall, so the tripod is extended all the way plus on top of the tripod is a mini pier. So my scope is at around 1.7 meters from the ground.

Menno

[timh]

That is a nice - very small - object. Good catch Menno - looks like a good target for long focus telescopes and not one of the usual s.

Tim