NGC2359 Thor's Helmet

 

NGC2359 (Thor's Helmet)

Between the trees in front of my terrace and the middle support beam I'm only afforded a 120 min window for imaging an object at the altitude of NGC2359. System consisted of Celestron 8 SCT AVX, Starizona NightOwl 0.4X reducer/corrector, ZWO ASI294MC Pro. 

Things get interesting with gradient removal. My area is heavily light polluted and since I only use a broadband light pollution filter the full image suffers from a halo near the outer edges. The image is cropped but still suffered from some haloing.  

GraXpert offers a number of gradient removal options including an AI version. RBF with thin_plate worked best for reducing the background gradient. The others produced various artifacts including some very dark splotch like areas adjacent to the nebula. Post processing with PaintShop Pro 2021. 

Open Clusters: M34, NGC457, NGC869, NGC1342, NC1528, NGC1545

Clear night, near full moon high to the east, so why not image a few open clusters. All were imaged with 30x15s subframes. Configuration: Celestron 8, Starizona Night Owl F/4 focal reducer/corrector, ASI294MC Pro. Stack averaged with Autostakkert 3, gradient removal with GraXpert, post processing with Paintshop Pro 2021. 

M34

NGC457(Owl Cluster)

NGC869

NGC957    

NGC1342

NGC1528

NGC1545

IC342, IC405, IC447 and SH2-274

All images acquired with Celestron 8, Starizona Night Owl f/4.0, ZWO ASI294 MC Pro. 120x30s subframes. Stack averaging with Autostakkert!3. Stretched and gradient reduced with GraXpert. Post processing with Paintshop Pro 2021.

IC342 (Spiral Galaxy)

IC405 (Flaming Star Nebula)

IC447(Reflection Nebula)

Sharpless 274 (Medusa Nebula)

Mo Better Processed Horse Head

To be fair I should title this Mo Better processed  NGC2023 and friends since I always go to said nebula when targeting this area. Celestron 8, Starizona Night Owl, ZWO ASI294MC Pro, 120x30s subframes acquired with SharpCap Pro. Stack Averaged with Autostakkert! 3, stretching and gradient removal by GraXpert(Kriging algorithm). Taken heavily LED light polluted Frederick, MD. Post processing with Paintshop Pro 2021.

Flame Nebula,NGC2023, Horsehead Nebula(B33)