CITSO Blog: Deep Sky Haunting

An 80Q jpg version of the "redo" at processing, reposted to Asterisk.

CITSO Blog: Deep Sky Haunting

vdB 141 (Ghost Nebula) in Cepheus

Imaged August 6-26 2011

Click the image for the high resolution version!

vdB 141 in Cepheus.

Imaged August 6-26 2011, 15- hours total.

L=370 minutes (1x1), R=180m, G=170m, B=160m (2x2). Subs=10m.

Telescope=PlaneWave CDK17, Camera=SBIG STL-4020M, Mount=Paramount ME.
PlaneWave focal reducer (f/4.5). Baader filters.

Frames acquired with TheSky X, MaxIm DL, and Focusmax.
Processed with PixInsight and CCDInspector.

The summer of 2011 was a very special one for my family and me, the very first summer that we were able to spend in its entirety at our Cabin in the Sky. We arrived on the last day of June, and returned the day before Labour Day, just ahead of the start of classes for Alexandre and me, and work for Loula.

In the weeks leading up to the start of that glorious summer, I obsessed over my imaging plans. I thought there was a good chance that I could go "deep" on as many as four objects - and after 18 months of experience using my observatory, and with my skills in image processing having improved as a result, I defined "deep" as a minimum of 10-12 hours!

But pursuing the Ghost would lead to two personal records that went far beyond my expectations, and which I've yet (as of spring 2013) to top: I took more than 20 hours (!) of subframes, and used just under 15 hours of the best frames to produce the final image.

The Ghost was a close second on my list of targets that summer (the Bubble was first). In scouring the web that June for targets, I was stopped in my tracks by an APOD with Stephen Leshin's beautiful rendition of the Ghost. I had never come across a nebula with such lustrous browns, which are made all the warmer by the contrast with the nearby brilliant blue double star. The nebula fills almost the entire frame, in some regions dense enough to completely obscure the background stars, and in others having a very intricate and delicate texture. I've oriented my version of the Ghost in a manner that suggests the Ghost chasing after its head ;).