CLICK ON IMAGE FOR FULL SIZE VIEW (2800x2115)
Scope: Mak-Newt 152 mm f/4.8, Location: Laguna Mountains, CA, 16 July 2010 Camera: ST8300M
Exposure: 12 x 9 min H-Alpha Exposure (1x1), 8 x 5 min UV/IR Block Luminance (1x1), 8 x 3 min RGB exposures (2x2).
Processing: Images were captured with CCDSoft. Aligned/stacked and dark subtracted in Astroart ; Sigma Combine method was used for stacking subs. All channels were scaled and equalized in Astroart. Channels were co-registered in Astroart. G2V factors were applied to color channels in Astroart. The 9 minute H-Alpha block exposures were combined with the 5 minute luminance exposures for the main luminance construction with level adjustments and curves to bring out object features. Some Levels and Curves were selectively applied excluding the core area. LRGB combine was done in Photoshop. Sharpening was done on the luminance channel. Final touches and color balance tweaks in Photoshop. Final Image size is approximately 3352x2532 (resized to 2400x1813).
North is up in this image. The star cluster in the center of the image is NGC 6823. The surrounding emission nebula is cataloged as NGC 6820. These object are located in the constellation of Vulpecula. This image replaces and earlier image that can be seen in the Archives here . Horizontal FOV is 88 arc minutes.
Image center is approximately - Equatorial 2000: RA: 19h 43m 06s Dec: +23°18'00"