NGC6543 "Cat Eye" Nebula

Scope: C8 f/10;  Location: Del Mar, CA,  15 Jul 2004;  Camera: ToUcam SC3

Exposure: 12 x 32 sec, 16 x 10 sec, and 20 x 4 sec Luminance with IR/UV blocking  filter, 12 x 15,15,10 sec each RGB  filter.

Processing: Images were captured in K3CCDTools. Aligned/stacked in Registax and saved as FITS. Luminance and Color channels were scaled and rough color balanced in Astroart. Channels were co-registered in Astroart. Long Luminance exposure was used for the star field and the shorter Luminance exposures were used for the nebula itself (to avoid saturation of features). Luminance and Color FITS were combined in Photoshop with Luminance Layering. Color balancing and final touches in Photoshop. SGBNR was used to smooth background noise on the final result. Resized to approximately 800x600.

This image was taken with steady skies at a light polluted site. This is a guided image. The nebula is sometimes called the Cat Eye Nebula. It features some concentric ovals with angular offset. A cropped close up processed slightly differently is shown below with these rings somewhat enhanced.  This image replaces the July 2002 image which can be seen in the Archives here. Horizontal FOV is 8'

This image below is a cropped close up of the Cat Eye itself...

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

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