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Scope: C8 203mm at f/3.6, Location: Dos Picos Park, Ramona, CA 11 January, 2008, Camera: Artemis285
Exposure: 10 x 8 min H-Alpha (1x1), 8 x 2 min RGB Exposures (2x2).
Processing: Images were captured with Artemis Capture (as FITs). Aligned/stacked and dark subtracted in Astroart with Sigma Combine. H-Alpha and Color channels were scaled and color balanced in Astroart. Channels were co-registered in Astroart. Central Gradient removal was performed in Astroart. Luminance construction consisted of the H-Alpha exposure. Curves and Levels applied in Photoshop to the Luminance construction to optimize object features. Final LRGB combine was done in Photoshop using Luminance Layering in LAB color Space. A color adjustment made to correct the color at low RGB signal levels. Selective sharpening was applied to nebula features in Photoshop with a layer mask. Final Image size is approximately 1040x1392
North is up in this image. The field in this image is in the constellation of Monoceros. The object in this image, SH2-280 also known as LBN 970, is an emission nebula. The star energizing the emission is HD46573 - the bright star to the upper left of the nebula. Distance to Earth is estimated to be about 5,500 light years. The Horizontal FOV is44'.
Image center is located approximately - Equatorial 2000: RA: 06h 34m 15s Dec: +02°23'22"