Total integration: 7876 minutes/131+ hours (2193 x 300s for
Cameras: QHY163M (16mp mono) and QHY247C (24mp
Telescopes: Takahashi FC100DF Steinheil fluorite doublet and Stellarvue SV70T triplet apochromat refractors @
Reducers: Takahashi FC-35 (0.66x) and SFFR70-
Mount: Paramount MyT.
Filters: 1.25" Astrodon 5nm
Software: TheSkyX Pro, Sharpcap, PixInsight, Topaz Studio 2.
Selected inline images uploaded to the forum in reduced size. Full resolution images of all images in the series are available at https://www.astrobin.com/fyu2su/ https://www.astrobin.com/hg1c5d/ and https://www.astrobin.com/jdaa90/ and of the primary images at http://ram.org/images/space/scope/1.4+7 ... m_131h.jpg (widefield), http://ram.org/images/space/scope/1.4+7 ... m_131h.jpg (narrowfield) and http://ram.org/images/space/scope/1.7.4 ... 0m_53h.jpg (ou4 only).
Hi all, finally this is done! I've been swamped with life, but managed to finish the third image of my Squid series. The following writeup is a lot of the old info slightly updated but my lessons learnt from all the time spent on this target are at the bottom. It was hard to find the time to process this properly so I hope I can come back to it one day. Now to get my new QHY294M + CFW3-S-US setup going.
The Squid nebula (ou4) occupies over one degree of the night sky, representing the largest angular extent ever found in a planetary nebula. Known colloquially as the giant squid nebula, it is physically nearly 50 light years across. This bipolar nebula could be one of the nearest of its type known, situated around 2300 light years away, though it being a planetary nebula needs confirmation. Even though it is big and close, you're not likely to find it easily. It is an extremely faint nebula emitting primarily O3 signal and resides within the larger Flying Bat nebula (sh2-129) which tends to overshadow it, making it a challenging target to image.
The Squid shape is created by the outflow of material driven by a triple system of hot, massive stars catalogued as HR8119 (blue hypergiant) as well as the pulsating variable star v419 Cephei (red supergiant) seen near the center. While their shapes do their names justice, to me, the Squid seated within the Flying Bat more resembles a hand holding an infinity stone (viewed sideways) rather than a Bat carrying a bejeweled Squid on its back.
Seeing the Squid situated within the Flying Bat (which apparently has been confirmed) brightly light up in
The Flying Bat and Squid project/series became a huge undertaking for me, ending up with a total of more than 131 hours in the final integrated widefield image of both objects and three series of images, with a few versions in each, depending on the data set used for the integration. The three series are Squid by itself, narrowfield, and widefield.
In the Squid by itself series (https://www.astrobin.com/jdaa90/), which was done first, I am showcasing the O3 filter data only, with and without
There are several versions of the Squid by itself with full capture details. The difference between the two monochrome versions of the Squid is the application of HDR Multiscale Transform which reduces the halo on the central star as well as the amount of data used: (A) is based on the full ~53 hours whereas (B) is based on the best 40 hours. (C) and (D) are corresponding versions that combine O3 in the blue channel with
Following the Squid-only series, I worked on the narrowfield (https://www.astrobin.com/hg1c5d/) and widefield (https://www.astrobin.com/fyu2su/) series where it is situated between the wingspan of Flying Bat. I started with data from the FC100DF/QHY163M combination which results in a total exposure of 78+ hours for SHO. The SV70T/QHY163M data used for the widefield framing representing another 51+ hours was also integrated in. The
For narrowfield series, I struggled with colour. The
The widefield series (https://www.astrobin.com/fyu2su/) follows a similar trajectory: there's the
As always, thanks for looking!
--Ram