A narrowband image is typically the first project of mine right after summer solstice, as nights aren't still providing sufficiently dark skies for deeper integrations. With the NB filters, I can extend the imaging time quite a bit and a brighter target is also helpful in these respects. Although my first target was
Sh2-71, a complex bipolar planetary nebula in Aquila in Ha-OIII-RGB, M57 is also often on my list. This time I chose to capture the PN with a deeper look into it and to bring out the outer shell detail. Since the object's dynamic range is quite large, I had to do three stretches and combine them through masks to avoid under or overexposure.
The true star colors were blended in from the RGB data.
The fact that I am publishing this image later than usual after capturing its data is that I submitted it (out of curiosity to see what's going to happen) to the German astronomy forum
astronomie.de and see if I could participate in the "astrophoto of the week" contest. I was a bit surprised to see that the image was accepted instantaneously. Since the rules are that only images that haven't been published before are viable to participate in the contest, I had to wait for the image's publication. Finally, this happened last night and so I'm also sharing my image here now. The contest isn't just about publishing the image but the editors enrich it with some astronomical and astrophysical information which I find very interesting. Here's the link to the publication of my image:
https://www.astronomie.de/neuigkeiten/36-woche-die-pracht-des-ringnebels-in-der-leierSince the website is in German, I'm attaching an automatic Google translations link, in case some non-german speakers like to read about it. Although not perfect, I think the translation doesn't alter the meanings.
https://www-astronomie-de.translate.goog/neuigkeiten/36-woche-die-pracht-des-ringnebels-in-der-leier/?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wappClear skies!
Björn
Comments