The Tarantula Nebula

The tarantula nebula is probably my favorite region in the night sky. The sheer expansive spread of the nebula, the complexity in the outstretched tendrils, the thousands of different colors, all come together form this incredible spread of gas and dust. This data from telescope live was incredibly deep despite the low integration time, as the sheer brightness of the region makes it really easy to image.

The Tarantula Nebula, also known as 30 Doradus, is more than a thousand light-years in diameter, a giant star forming region within nearby satellite galaxy the Large Magellanic Cloud. About 180 thousand light-years away, it’s the largest, most violent star forming region known in the whole Local Group of galaxies. The cosmic arachnid sprawls across this spectacular view, composed with narrowband filter data centered on emission from ionized hydrogen atoms. Within the Tarantula (NGC 2070), intense radiation, stellar winds and supernova shocks from the central young cluster of massive stars, cataloged as R136, energize the nebular glow and shape the spidery filaments. Around the Tarantula are other star forming regions with young star clusters, filaments, and blown-out bubble-shaped clouds. In fact, the frame includes the site of the closest supernova in modern times, SN 1987A, left of center. The rich field of view spans about 1 degree or 2 full moons, in the southern constellation Dorado. But were the Tarantula Nebula closer, say 1,500 light-years distant like the local star forming Orion Nebula, it would take up half the sky.

Image:

Full-quality image here: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52905430874_a1420231ca_o.png

Details:

Telescope: Planewave CDK24
Camera: FLI PL 9000
Filters: Halpha, SII, OIII,
Location: El Sauce Observatory, Río Hurtado, Coquimbo Region, Chile
Date of Observations: 10/27/2020, 11/21/2020, 12/4/2020, 12/5/2020, 12/17/2020, 12/28/2020, 1/5/2021, 1/10/2021, 1/20/2021
Sii: 22 x 300s (1h 50 min)
Ha: 23 x 300s (1h 55min)
Oiii: 24 x 600s (2h)
Processing: Pixinsight
Credits: Data: Telescope Live; Processing: William Ostling

Processing:

Processing:
- Images were cosmetic corrected for hot pixels
- The subframes were weighted, registered, normalized, integrated, and drizzled in WBPP
Preparation of all 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 of the RGB
- 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
- DeepSNR noise reduction was applied to RGB
- A natural pallete was created from the SHO palleete
Non-linear Adjustments
- Initial GHS stretch
- Targeted GHS + MMT division for color balance
- Noise reduction
- Curves transformation
- Color Calibration