A star-forming nebula spanning 100 light-years. The star cluster within the nebula is officially known as IC 1848.
Askar 130PHQ: January 2023
This image was an experiment in two main ways, and I’m happy with how it turned out. First, it’s a combination of Optolong L-Ultimate and Askar Colour Magic D2 data. If you’re interested in this then I recommend you read my Askar D1 D2 review here, but the short version is that those two filters allow for SHO imaging with OSC cameras. My Optolong L-Ultimate filter is like an upgraded version of the Askar D1 (3nm instead of 6nm), so I wanted to see if I could get a good result by swapping out my Askar D1 for an Optolong L-Ultimate. It worked perfectly well.
Second, this is the first image narrowband image for which I’ve shot “real colour” stars. Dualband filters like the Optolong L-eXtreme or L-Ultimate wipe star colour, so this time as a final step during image acquisition I gathered three hours of data with no filter. I then integrated that and used the image just for its real-colour stars, which I added in very late during processing.
Regarding processing, I’m still working out the best way of incorporating Askar D2 data to get SHO images. This image took almost a whole day to edit, but that’s mostly because I was experimenting. Once I’ve refined my technique maybe I’ll write it up as a guide.
One final note. Due to my Askar 130PHQ‘s focal length of 1000mm, this is really half of the Soul Nebula! This is why it looks very different to the wide-angle Askar FRA400 images I took earlier. Scroll down to see these. I could have taken a mosaic but I’ve too many other imaging projects I’m itching to start.
Imaging details
* January 2023
* Bristol, UK (Bortle 8)
* Telescope: Askar 130PHQ Flatfield Astrograph
* Camera: ZWO ASI 2600MC-PRO
* Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ6-R PRO
* Guide: William Optics 50mm Guidescope with 1.25″ RotoLock; ZWO ASI 120MM Mini
* Control: ASIAIR Plus
* Software: PixInsight, Lightroom
* Filters:
– Optolong L-Ultimate (Ha / OIII): 300 x 120 seconds (10 hours)
– Askar Colour Magic D2 (SII / OIII) : 420 x 120 seconds (14 hours)
– No filter (for RGB stars): 90 x 120 seconds (3 hours)
Total exposure time: 27 hours
By Lee Pullen
Example source data
Version 3, reprocessed December 2022
From the Reprocessing Bonanza 2022. This version uses exactly the same data as version 1, but with better processing tools and skills. Version 2 was perhaps the first image using a dualband filter (Optolong L-eXtreme in this case) that I processed with a pseudo-Sulphur II channel in order to bring in more colours. That edit was a little on the lurid side, but it proved to me that it was possible! Returning to the data now I think I’ve got a more pleasing colour palette, and slightly better image quality in part thanks to replacing Topaz Denoise AI with NoiseXTerminator.
Version 2, reprocessed June 2021
This version contains all the same data as the original. It has different colours because I followed Luke’s excellent YouTube tutorial on how to get Hubble Palette-style colours from Optolong L-eXtreme data. I was also a lot more careful about not blurring the details. Really I’d like three times as much data (it’s only six hours). Topaz DeNoise AI was useful in the processing.
Version 1, January 2021
This was one of my very first images using the Optolong L-eXtreme filter. I was really happy to get so much structure in the nebula, although looking back at it I can see I fudged the editing and lost a lot of the nebula’s fine structure. It was a conscious decision to heavily saturate the colours; a personal choice but I tend to like punchy, almost hyper-real renditions.
* January 2021
* Bristol, UK (Bortle 8)
* Telescope: Askar FRA400 f/5.6 Quintuplet APO Astrograph
* Camera: ZWO ASI 2600MC-PRO
* Filter: Optolong L-eXtreme
* Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G
* Guide: William Optics 32mm; ZWO ASI 120MM Mini
* Software: PixInsight and Lightroom
* Control: ASIAIR PRO
* 72 x 300 seconds
Total integration time: 6 hours
By Lee Pullen
Example source data
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