Barnard's Merope Nebula (IC 349)
Characteristics:
Magnitude: 13 (IC 349)
Size: 0.5 arcminutes
Distance: 380 light years
RA: 3h 46m 31s
Dec: 23 degrees 57' 36"
Description:
Barnard's Merope Nebula (IC 349) is a small region of dust that shines
brightly by reflected light from the star Merope, a member of the Pleiades open
star cluster (M45, the "Seven Sisters").
I have labeled it on the larger image
shown here. The nebula was first
discovered visually by Barnard in 1890 using the Lick 36"
telescope. It is challenging to image due to Merope's proximity,
which needs to be tamed with masks in PS as noted below. Johannes Schedler has
captured more
detail using his 16" Cassegrain at f10. More information
about the Merope Nebula may be found here.
Photographic Details:
Date: November 25, 2005
Scope: Takahashi
FS-102 at f6 with TOA-130 focal reducer, on the G11 Losmandy
Mount.
Autoguider: SBIG STV with
e-finder.
Camera: SXV-H9.
Filter: Astronomiks
L filter; IDAS-LPS filter.
Exposures: Luminance filter, 24
x 5' unbinned. Total
exposure: 2 hours.
Conditions: Temperature 22 degrees F; average
transparency, average seeing; calm; clear.
Post-processing:
No darks were needed for this image.
Subs were bias subtracted, aligned, and combined in
Maxim.
DDP
performed in ImagesPlus (IP), with further processing in Photoshop CS (16
bit format). Diffractions spikes created with two pieces of kite
string placed perpendicularly in front of the telescope. In order
to enhance the Merope Nebula itself, I masked out nearby Merope as much
as possible during DDP and curves stretching. I also applied 20
iterations of Lucy-Richardson deconvolution (5x5 PSF) in
ImagesPlus. I
didn't spend much time processing this image to "perfection" (and I
don't plan on adding color), since my intent was only to detect IC 349.
Please
note: Graphics on this website may not be reproduced without
author permission.
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