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First Light NGC 6357 Lobster Nebula

Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2022 2:17 am
by Startrek
First image of NGC 6357 Lobster Nebula under Southern Hemisphere skies

City suburban Bortle 8 Skies
20% waxing moon
6” f6 GSO Newt
ZWOASI2600MC cooled to -10C , Gain 100 LRN
Optolong L Extreme filter
TS GPU coma corrector
245 x 2 min dithered guided subs ( captured over 3 nights )
40 x Flats
60 x Bias
EQMOD, Stellarium, APT
PHD2 Multistar guiding ( 0.55 to 0.60 arc sec total)
Stacked in DSS
Processed in Startools V1.7 Compose OSC Bi Color
SHO version using the 4th Matrix option

Battled with a lot of LP gradient due to location but cleaned it up as best as I could, obviously sacrificing some faint detail

Comments welcome
Thanks

Re: First Light NGC 6357 Lobster Nebula

Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2022 11:43 pm
by Mike in Rancho
Very nice! I can't really tell where the LP gradient may have been -- upper left? And there's so much detail anyway that it would be hard to say what might have been lost to Wipe.

Re: First Light NGC 6357 Lobster Nebula

Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2022 5:23 am
by Startrek
Thanks Mike,
The Lobster is quite a dim nebula and imaging under LP skies makes for a real challenge.
Fortunately I had 3 clear nights in a row with similar conditions so gathered enough data to expose most of this object
I’m getting some good feedback from our local forum down under on the Antlia 5mn OSC duo band filter. I use an L Extreme 7mn which is excellent, however Optolong are bringing out their Ultimate OSC 5mn Duoband filter very soon. Interested on how it stacks up against the Antlia (Golden)5mn filter.
Clear Skies
Martin