September 29, 2012

NGC 281 Bi-Color (September 2012)

Here is the Pacman Nebula again, a closer view.  The H-alpha data shown earlier this month falls naturally in the red part of the spectrum.  To this I have added OIII.  Ionized oxygen is green, but it is weaker than the H-alpha.  In this image, I have used H-alpha for red, OIII for blue; I combined this data (20% Ha, 80% OIII) to create a third data set, which I used for green.  This is a slightly false color, but I think it is easy on the eyes and shows the data well.

Telescope: Orion 254mm f/4.7 Newtonian and Astro-Tech Coma Corrector (eff. at f/5.17)
Camera and Exposure: SXVF-H9 (H-alpha: 1x900" + 12x1200"; OIII: 15x1200"), T-shirt flats
Filter: Astronomik 12nm Ha and 12nm OIII
Guiding: SX Lodestar and SX OAG
Mount: Takahashi NJP
Software: Nebulosity, Maxim DL, Registar, Photoshop CS3
Location: The Woodlands, TX

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