NGC 281 Central Region
Characteristics:
Position Angle: +333 degrees
RA (J2000): 0h 53m 00s
Dec: 56 degrees 34' 40"
Description:
NGC
281 (aka the Pacman Nebula) is a region rich in HII emission as a
result of excitation from UV
light emitted by the central young star cluster IC 1590. There
are
prominent Bok Globules in the central portion of this image, that
represent cooler regions of hydrogen gas that are incubating a central
protostar(s), which is not yet apparent in visible light. More
information about this region can be found at Rob
Gendler's website.
Photographic
Details:
-Date: September 15, 2022.
-Imaging
scope:
Celestron 9.25" standard SCT (native f10) with 0.63 focal reducer
(spaced to achieve f6.1 = 1444mm effective focal length), on the
Takahashi NJP
Mount.
-Autoguider: None.
-Camera: ZWO
ASI1600 (Gain 200, offset 40, Read noise
1.55 e rms),
-20C, 3.8
micron pixel size, image scale 0.54"/pixel given above set up; Baader
Ha, R, G, B filters; ZWO 7-position filter wheel for 2" filters.
-Exposure:
Total
exposure 8 hours (3 hours RGB (15sec subs), 5 hours
Ha (60sec
subs)); unguided dither in CCD Commander software every 8 subs (for
RGB) and every 2 subs (for Ha); ASI1600 Gain
200, offset 40, Read noise
1.55 e rms.
-Post-processing: NGC
6888- Calibrated, aligned, and
stacked in Maxim, deconvolution in CCDStack, followed
by DDP
in ImagesPlus (IP). Selective use of PixInsight for Pixel Math
feature (to obtain "stars only" image- see Russ
Croman's description of the "Unscreen" technique for
details). The final image was processed in
Photoshop
CS.
Please
note: Graphics on this website
may not be reproduced without author permission.
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