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Need help to select appropriate filter for OSC imaging Heart Nebula

Acquisition Deep Sky IC1805 IC Objects
11 replies•508 views
Ranjeet G avatar
Ranjeet G avatar
Hi,
I am new here and just started with Astrophotography a few months ago. Till now I tried photographing Andromeda Galaxy, Lagoon Nebula, North America Nebula, Eagle Nebula, Swan Nebula. I had no issues with these targets with most of them being just 3 hours of data.
Last couple of nights I tried capturing Heart Nebula (IC1805) with around 7 hrs of exposure with 5min and 3min frames. But it was not enough to bring out the details. I saw couple of tutorials on Youtube with 1.5 exposure and those were good. In my area the sky has 5-6 bortle rating. To filter out the light pollution, I use L-Pro filter. Not sure if I am using the correct filter for the Heart Nebula. Can you please suggest how can I improve the details in the captured image?

Equipment details:
Redcat 51,
Celestron AVX mount,
ASI294MC Pro,
Optolong L Pro,
ZWO 30mm Guide camera,
ZWO ASIAIR Plus
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D. Jung avatar
D. Jung avatar
Do you use the Optolong L Enhance  or the Optolong L Pro? Not familiar with Optolong L Enhance Pro.

If you use the L-Pro, maybe try a narrow band filter like the L-Ultimate or the Antlia dual.
Ranjeet G avatar
Ranjeet G avatar
Sorry, its L-Pro. Just edited the original question. Thanks.
andrea tasselli avatar
andrea tasselli avatar
L-Extreme is the way to go. L-Enhance (not the quad-band which is a new nickname for the old L-Pro) if you can't afford the former.
Tony Gondola avatar
Tony Gondola avatar
The L-Pro filter has too much bandpass. In your level of light pollution you need narrow band passes, 6nm or less. There are a lot of choices out there but one of the dual band filters that pass Ha and Oiii would be a good choice.
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Rafael Amarins avatar
Rafael Amarins avatar
If you want the best go for the Antlia ALP-T
No halos, tight bandpass, very good quality control.
Aaron avatar
Aaron avatar
L-pro is typically used for broadband targets (e.g. galaxies, reflection nebula) but the Heart Nebula is an emission nebula full of Ha. You should use a narrowband filter to bring that out and enhance the contrast. 

I just recently worked on this target with L-Ultimate on my balcony under Bortle 9 sky.  (I used a few hours of LPro data for the stars) https://www.astrobin.com/c03iua/
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Tim Ray avatar
Tim Ray avatar
I have all the filters listed above in this thread. I have also imaged the Heart and Soul nebulas…

Big fan of the Antlia ALP-T dual band. Distant 2nd is the LeXtreme from Optolong. Both are about the same in bandwidth at the emission lines. Both filters don't leave funky gradients to contend with. I like processing the LeXtreme data better for some reason. However, the LeXtreme will leave halos (very bad) and the Antlia ALP-T does not (very good).

It's an easy target to capture. I look forward to seeing your result later in the season.

CS Tim
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Ranjeet G avatar
Ranjeet G avatar
Thank you All. Based on your suggestions, I will go with Narrowband filter - Optolong L Ultimate. Will share the results soon smile
Martin S. avatar
Martin S. avatar
There is another thread in this forum pointing out various ways of processing with the L-Ultimate. It all starts with the linked vs. unlinked stratch. See for example the photos of elephant trunk nebula. Both are with the same filter, but with and without linked channels in stretch. You may find it useful as I did yesterday :-)

Forum post
https://www.astrobin.com/forum/c/astrophotography/deep-sky/osc-imaging-with-l-ultimate-l-enhanced/

Unlinked stretch
https://www.astrobin.com/dal874/

Linked stretch
https://www.astrobin.com/z3c7v8/

Regards,
Martin
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Ranjeet G avatar
Ranjeet G avatar
Tim Ray:
I have all the filters listed above in this thread. I have also imaged the Heart and Soul nebulas...

Big fan of the Antlia ALP-T dual band. Distant 2nd is the LeXtreme from Optolong. Both are about the same in bandwidth at the emission lines. Both filters don't leave funky gradients to contend with. I like processing the LeXtreme data better for some reason. However, the LeXtreme will leave halos (very bad) and the Antlia ALP-T does not (very good).

It's an easy target to capture. I look forward to seeing your result later in the season.

CS Tim

Thanks Everyone for your valuable suggestion. I got the Optolong L-Ultimate filter and the result is stunning.

I have uploaded the picture here: https://astrob.in/h880ka/0/
Tobiasz avatar
Tobiasz avatar
Rafael Amarins:
If you want the best go for the Antlia ALP-T
No halos, tight bandpass, very good quality control.

+1 for Alp T.

I have it and it is worth every cent.