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IC63 acquisition advices needed

Acquisition Deep Sky IC63 IC Objects
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Silaenoz avatar
Silaenoz avatar
Hi dear community,

For the past week i'm trying to capture IC63 with my osc in broadband and narrowband, with the goal to obtain a good result in the small structures of the nebula. 
Since this target is not an easy one and i'm quite a beginner/intermediate in AP, i struggle to make the good choices to aquire the right data.
For now i got ~5h of rgb, and ~8h of Ha/Oiii (with l-ultimate), pretty strong and clean, and i plan to give it another night or two, but i wonder wich kind of data i now should aim for. 
Is Sii present enough in this target to help to accentuate the faint structures ? Is it relevant to use my sii/oiii filter for the future nights of shooting ? 

I'd love to hear from people who dealt with this challenging target and got nice results, knowing the fact that processing will be a bigger challenge but wanting to get here with a strong and adequate data.

Thanks in advance for your precious help.
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Jan Erik Vallestad avatar
Jan Erik Vallestad avatar
I've only attempted this once as I was starting out, see here. It's very short on integration and far from a result I am happy with though, but considering I had no experience I think it turned out alright.

I ended up dropping my Sii data altogether as the Ha is the strongest component and any Sii would require a lot more integration. There are several good examples here on AB that showcase nice SHO palettes though, like this one. 

Personally, if I were to redo it I would go Ha/Oiii, RGB stars and maybe some additional RGB data. But I prefer HOO to SHO.
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Silaenoz avatar
Silaenoz avatar
Thanks for sharing this.
Those are very good examples, the first is kind of what i'm pretty confident to get, and the second is the real dream ! 
The equipment and integration time is far from my reality, but what i'm interested in are those detailed structures, and how to get a maximum of them. I wonder how a sii channel with this kind of crazy integration time could help with that on this target. You are right about the fact that it will take a bunch of time in my situation to make it useful. 
I will try a few hours of sii/oiii just to observe which details are standing out, and if the results seem interesting, why not trying a 10h+ on this filter !

Thanks again
Jan Erik Vallestad avatar
Jan Erik Vallestad avatar
Usually the key is as simple as adding a lot of integration. There is a lot of dust around the object that can be visible through long broadband integrations. Sii will require lots of integration mostly because there isn't a lot of signal and thus the snr will probably be low. I would focus mostly on RGB and then Ha/Oiii duo band.

But have a go and see what it gives you. I have no experience with duo band/OSC myself.
Concise
Silaenoz avatar
Silaenoz avatar
Yeah, if nothing seems to pop in sii, i will focus on having as much time in broad i already have in Ha, and then we'll see where it goes.

Clear nights !
andrea tasselli avatar
andrea tasselli avatar
There is significant Hb in there as well, so spending time in acquiring BB data isn't a bad choice.
Tobiasz avatar
Tobiasz avatar
My recent project was IC63, too. For your goal to obtain finer structures, I would definetly recommend to go for more broadband data. With OSC broadband the  Ha data was quite underwhelming, but the grey/blue regions of the nebula were popping out like crazy. 

In the end I still went for some hours in Ha/Oiii to receive more of the red glow.

You can take a look at my approach on my profile.
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Silaenoz avatar
Silaenoz avatar
Tobiasz:
My recent project was IC63, too. For your goal to obtain finer structures, I would definetly recommend to go for more broadband data. With OSC broadband the  Ha data was quite underwhelming, but the grey/blue regions of the nebula were popping out like crazy. 

In the end I still went for some hours in Ha/Oiii to receive more of the red glow.

You can take a look at my approach on my profile.

Yeah that's what i'm currently realizing after stacking my broadband ones for a quick test. The ghostly white structures you very well captured with a lot of integration time seems to fit exactly what took me into this difficult target. 
Sii definitly seems to be a waste of time, i think only with a bunch of time one could eventualy enhance the thickest lines... Not worth it. 
Two next clear nights will be focused on broadband then. I'll post the final image in a near future.
Thanks for sharing your nice results !
Tobiasz avatar
Tobiasz avatar
Tobiasz:
My recent project was IC63, too. For your goal to obtain finer structures, I would definetly recommend to go for more broadband data. With OSC broadband the  Ha data was quite underwhelming, but the grey/blue regions of the nebula were popping out like crazy. 

In the end I still went for some hours in Ha/Oiii to receive more of the red glow.

You can take a look at my approach on my profile.

Yeah that's what i'm currently realizing after stacking my broadband ones for a quick test. The ghostly white structures you very well captured with a lot of integration time seems to fit exactly what took me into this difficult target. 
Sii definitly seems to be a waste of time, i think only with a bunch of time one could eventualy enhance the thickest lines... Not worth it. 
Two next clear nights will be focused on broadband then. I'll post the final image in a near future.
Thanks for sharing your nice results !

*
if you like, I can post a revision with the broadband data when I return from vacation. 

Regards
Silaenoz avatar
Silaenoz avatar
Yes i'm curious about how a long broad integration should looks, since i wont be able to shoot mine for a week because…clouds.
Thanks !
Jan Erik Vallestad avatar
Jan Erik Vallestad avatar
Here's an image with UV/IR only. It's just below 14 hours with a OSC camera but a fairly large aperture telescope, so if you have anything smaller you would probably expect to need more and accept less resolution of course. Another examplehere with pure OSC/UVIR and dual band, a total of apprx 14 hours with a smaller aperture telescope.

Despite the differences in aperture i think these are good examples of what you might achieve in the end.
Silaenoz avatar
Silaenoz avatar
Here's an image with UV/IR only. It's just below 14 hours with a OSC camera but a fairly large aperture telescope, so if you have anything smaller you would probably expect to need more and accept less resolution of course. Another examplehere with pure OSC/UVIR and dual band, a total of apprx 14 hours with a smaller aperture telescope.

Despite the differences in aperture i think these are good examples of what you might achieve in the end.

The second one perfectly match my hopes in terms of blending broad and Ha in precise areas. I got now 14h of pretty detailed Ha, the same amount in broad will do the trick. Fingers crossed. Thanks to have found this one, i must have miss it during my extensive scrolling

Next episode in some weeks i guess !
Jan Erik Vallestad avatar
Jan Erik Vallestad avatar
The add filter option in the explore section is quite handy in order to search for specific images with comparable gear
Tobiasz avatar
Tobiasz avatar
Yes i'm curious about how a long broad integration should looks, since i wont be able to shoot mine for a week because...clouds.
Thanks !

I looked on my phone and found a pic where I only processed the broadband data. 

As you can see the grey and blue regions are coming out nice. But my picture wont match the resolution of the examples given by Jan, because I only shot IC63 with an 80mm refractor and IMX585 with 2.9 micron pixels. Integration time at this point was 22h RGB with OSC. Processing was only quick and dirty to see if I need additional Dualband data.

Next step: I need a bigger telescope, lol!
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Silaenoz avatar
Silaenoz avatar
The add filter option in the explore section is quite handy in order to search for specific images with comparable gear

I know, i know.... Sadly i'm struggling to become a paid member due to the payment system failing to recognize my visa, so as a free one, i can't use those filters in my searches, to my great disapointment !
Silaenoz avatar
Silaenoz avatar
Tobiasz:
Yes i'm curious about how a long broad integration should looks, since i wont be able to shoot mine for a week because...clouds.
Thanks !

I looked on my phone and found a pic where I only processed the broadband data. 

As you can see the grey and blue regions are coming out nice. But my picture wont match the resolution of the examples given by Jan, because I only shot IC63 with an 80mm refractor and IMX585 with 2.9 micron pixels. Integration time at this point was 22h RGB with OSC. Processing was only quick and dirty to see if I need additional Dualband data.

Next step: I need a bigger telescope, lol!

Shooting with the 585 too and a 72mm, now i can perfectly see what should come out of my next broad nights, many thanks Tobiasz, 20h+ seems to be a sweet spot.
Tobiasz avatar
Tobiasz avatar
Tobiasz:
Yes i'm curious about how a long broad integration should looks, since i wont be able to shoot mine for a week because...clouds.
Thanks !

I looked on my phone and found a pic where I only processed the broadband data. 

As you can see the grey and blue regions are coming out nice. But my picture wont match the resolution of the examples given by Jan, because I only shot IC63 with an 80mm refractor and IMX585 with 2.9 micron pixels. Integration time at this point was 22h RGB with OSC. Processing was only quick and dirty to see if I need additional Dualband data.

Next step: I need a bigger telescope, lol!

Shooting with the 585 too and a 72mm, now i can perfectly see what should come out of my next broad nights, many thanks Tobiasz, 20h+ seems to be a sweet spot.

You're welcome, funny that we are shooting similiar setups.
Tony Gondola avatar
Tony Gondola avatar
The add filter option in the explore section is quite handy in order to search for specific images with comparable gear

I know, i know.... Sadly i'm struggling to become a paid member due to the payment system failing to recognize my visa, so as a free one, i can't use those filters in my searches, to my great disapointment !

Funny that you mention that. I have the same problem, my US debit card won't work for this site, probably because the processor is overseas. I don't use credit cards so it's an issue.
Silaenoz avatar
Silaenoz avatar
Could not resist to do a quick try on all my data, here the very temporary result. With a ton more of broadband data, the fuzzyness and lack of fine details will hopefuly disappear, but i'm already satisfied with this early quicky.

https://astrob.in/lzmcq1/0/

Regards