LBN655/6 Region in Cassiopeia

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Scope: C8 at f/3.1 (HA exposure only), Megrez II  f/6.25 Location: Del Mar, CA   19 November 2005  Camera: Artemis285

Exposure: 8 x 360 sec H-Alpha (1x1),  8 x 180 sec Luminance (bin 1x1) with Red and Baader IR/UV Block Filter 8 x 60 sec RGB Exposures (2x2).

Processing: Images were captured  with Artemis Capture (as FITs).  Aligned/stacked in Registax 3 and saved as FITS. Luminance,  H-Alpha,   and Color channels were scaled and rough color balanced in Astroart. Channels were co-registered in Astroart.   The C8 H-Alpha exposure was the main exposure for the luminance construction - the Megrez Red/Luminance was used for edge stars since the C8 edges are distorted. Due to the short RGB times, the HA exposure (with stars removed) was used as a "lighten" combine in the red channel. Curves and Levels applied in Photoshop to optimize object features. Final LRGB combine was done in Photoshop using Luminance Layering (or LLRGB).  Image was cropped to eliminate lack of coverage on any of the exposures - cropped image was resized to 1040 vertical pixels. Color balancing and final touches were done in Photoshop.  SGBNR was used to smooth background noise on the final result.  Selective layer sharpening was performed on prominent nebula features. Final Image size is approximately 1400x1040.

All exposures in this image were guided; North is to the right in this image. This region of LBN655 / LBN656 (approximate)  is an emission area in the larger IC1805 complex known as the "Heart Nebula". This is the Western or right hand portion of that complex - only rotated 90 degrees CW.   The Horizontal FOV is 55'.

Image center is located approximately - Equatorial 2000: RA: 02h 29m 37s Dec: +61°12'33"

All images and content remain the property of Jim Thommes - copyright 2003 - 2012

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