IC1396A (Elephant’s Trunk Nebula)

An astonishing image, from an initially uninspiring appearance.

 

 

 

Equipment:

Refractor, 132 mm aperture, 928 mm focal length

TMB Flattener 68

QSI683wsg, 8-position filter wheel, Astrodon filters

Paramount MX

SX Lodestar guide camera (off-axis guider)

Software: (Windows 10)

Sequence Generator Pro, ASCOM drivers

TheSkyX Pro

PHD2 autoguider software

PixInsight (Mac OS)

Exposure: (RGB Hα, SII, OIII)

Hα, OIII, SII bin 1; 40 × 1200 seconds each

RGB bin 1; 20 × 300 seconds each

Just occasionally, everything falls into place. It does not happen very often but when it does, it gives enormous satisfaction. It is certainly a case of “fortune favors the prepared mind”. This image is one of my favorites and is the ...

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