This was a really fun dataset from telescope live to process! I’ve never seen the wider structures to the right of the heart nebula, so I spent a lot of time trying to get it to show up. I also spent a ton of time working with color masks to give the diffuse gas a red color while keeping the sho pallette!
Sprawling across almost 200 light-years, emission nebula IC 1805 is a mix of glowing interstellar gas and dark dust clouds. Derived from its Valentine’s-Day-approved shape, its nickname is the Heart Nebula. About 7,500 light-years away in the Perseus spiral arm of our galaxy, stars were born in IC 1805. In fact, near the cosmic heart’s center are the massive hot stars of a newborn star cluster also known as Melotte 15, about 1.5 million years young. A little ironically, the Heart Nebula is located in the constellation of the mythical Queen of Aethiopia (Cassiopeia). This deep view of the region around the Heart Nebula spans about two degrees on the sky or about four times the diameter of the Full Moon.
Image:
Full PNG available for download here: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53374558437_47ba675bac_o.png
Details:
Telescope: Takahashi FSQ-106EDX4
Camera: Takahashi FSQ-106EDX4
Filters: Astrodon SHO
Location: IC Astronomy Observatory, Oria, Almería, Spain
Date of Observations: 12/14/2020, 6/17/2022, 6/18/2022, 6/19/2022, 6/20/2022, 8/11/2022, 8/15/2022, 8/16/2022, 8/19/2022, 9/15/2022, 9/17/2022, 10/16/2022, 11/15/2022, 11/28/2022
SII: 37 x 600s (6h 10min)
Ha: 36 x 600s (6h)
OIII: 36 x 600s (6h)
Processing: Pixinsight
Credits: Data: Telescope Live; Processing: William OstlingProcessing:
Image integration
- Images were cosmetic corrected for hot pixels
- The subframes were weighted, registered, normalized, integrated, and drizzled in WBPP
Preparation of master frames:
- Stacking artifacts were cropped
- SHO were combined to create an RGB image
- RGB image was plate solved
- Starless DBE was applied to RGB as follows:
- Starnet 2 was applied to a clone of the target image, creating an image with stars and an image without stars
- DBE was applied on the starless image to create a background model
- The background model was subtracted from the stars image
Deconvolution
- a PSF was created using the dynamic PSF process
- Linear starnet was applied to create a starless image and a star mask
- the linear image was duplicated, stretched, clipped, and convoluted to create a mask
- The starless image was deconvoluted using the RVC algorithm
- the stars were added back in
Noise Reduction
- DeepSNR noise reduction was applied to RGB
Non-linear Adjustments
- HT stretch
- Convolution
- Green-blue balance using HT
- Red boost using HT
- Blue adjustment using Curves
- HDRMT
- MMT to fix backround
- LHE+curves for contrast
- Saturation enhancement
- Fix purple haloes using curves
- Histogram clip
- Unsharp mask
- Color changes using mask and curves
- Star addition
3 thoughts on “The Heart Nebula in SHO”
William, I don’t know what kind of feedback you get about your posts but they are brilliant. As a retired educator, I look forward to learning from you regularly and appreciate the details you provide. Thank you.