Horsehead NGC7023 Wide Field Horsehead

(These are very large files - Broadband recommended on anything over the 50% size)

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(Click here for High Res image taken on the same night)




Date: June - July , 2008
Exposure: LRGB - 405m : 285m : 300m : 345m
27 x 900s L, 19 x 900s R, 20 x 900s G, 23 x 900 B
Processing: CCDAutoPilot4 used to collect data over multiple nights. CCDSoft for image acquisition, CCDStack on a x64 Vista machine for Image calibration, Astrodon LRGB filters (35 flats each L,R,G,B, Bias subtracted and Sigma Clip combined, 65 bias frames Sigma Clip combined, 40 x 900s darks Sigma Clip combined), alignment, normalization, FITS master files creation, and RGB raw TIFF creation. Photoshop CS2 for final LRGB processing, final layers adjustment and jpg conversion for the website.
Conditions: Good to Excellent, Mag 6-7 Skies
Scope: FSQ-106N
Camera: SBIG STL-11000M, -20°
Comments: I made some adjustments to the focuser and it helped reduce the tilt in the 11K chip. There is still some there as can be seen in the left bottom corner, but it is much improved over what it has been. The seeing and transparency was excellet for these exposures and that helped bring out the faint dust all around the IRIS.