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Scope: C8 203mm at f/4.2, Dos Picos Park, Ramona, CA 30 December, 2007, Camera: Artemis285
Exposure: 9 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. Central gradient removal was performed in Astroart. Channels were co-registered 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. A light background noise reduction was applied in PixInsight LE (SBNR) Selective sharpening was applied to nebula features in Photoshop with a layer mask. Final Image size is approximately 1044x1392
North is up in this image. The field in this image is in the constellation of Canis Major. The object in this image, SH2-297 also known as LBN 1039 and GUM 3, is an emission / reflection nebula. The nebula is associated with the bright star in the center, HD 53623. It is a spectral B1 II/III star. The dim veil in the upper portions of the image is LBN 1037 The Horizontal FOV is 36'.
Image center is located approximately - Equatorial 2000: RA: 07h 04m 58s Dec: -12°16'22"