Image Specs

Due to its enormous size a wide field fast focal ratio telescope was used to capture this striking nebula - the Esprit 100ED f/5.5 on a Losmandy G11 equatorial mount.

The image was framed over 2 panels side by side with a small overlap to allow stitching reference. It is a composite of 95 frames at 220 seconds per frame captured with 3 filters. Hydrogen, Oxygen and Sulphur. Calibration dark and flat frames were added (50 in total per panel) to remove noise. All frames were then stacked/aligned and finally stitched together to form the entire image. The Optolong L-extreme narrow band filter was used to capture the Hydrogen Alpha and Oxygen III spectra emitted by the nebula. Further layers were added to capture the Sulphur II and Oxygen III spectra. A OSC cooled QHY 168C camera, dialled down to minus 10 degrees C to reduce thermal noise, Post processed with Affinity Photo.