Did Mars ruin my image

Processing H-alpha Deep Sky Emission Nebula
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MohamedNotAli avatar
MohamedNotAli avatar
I was imaging the spaghetti Nebula for the night and Mars was close by which made locating the Nebula super easy. 

However during post processing I had to stretch the image by alot. The nebula was able to pop out but since mars was also close by I think its glare might be whitewashing the nebula. I make that assumption because the left side of the image (the area closest to Mars) is brighter then the left side. 

So is all that gradient coming from mars or is it just the way stretches work ? 
If the glare is caused by Mars should I dispose my old subs and start anew when Mars gets out of the way or should I keep my current subs and continue to process with them with new subs? 

If you have to know I was using a canon t5i with 135mm Rokinon with astronomik 12nm Ha filter attached

Thank You!
 
Pistachio_Enjoyer avatar
Pistachio_Enjoyer avatar
Have you tried plate solving? From the image, I assume Elnath is at the bottom right, which would mean Mars is affecting your image. This is a common issue when imaging nebulae around bright stars. The most notorious case is with Alnitak, which can create internal reflections in images of the Flame and Horsehead Nebulae. Best thing to do is to wait for Mars to drift out of the FOV, which will happen in a few weeks after its opposition.
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MohamedNotAli avatar
MohamedNotAli avatar
Have you tried plate solving? From the image, I assume Elnath is at the bottom right, which would mean Mars is affecting your image. This is a common issue when imaging nebulae around bright stars. The most notorious case is with Alnitak, which can create internal reflections in images of the Flame and Horsehead Nebulae.


Elnath is the bright star to the right. Mars is that exploding white "star" to the left
Pistachio_Enjoyer avatar
Pistachio_Enjoyer avatar
Elnath is the bright star to the right. Mars is that exploding white "star" to the left


Best thing to do is to wait for mars to drift out of the FOV then.
MohamedNotAli avatar
MohamedNotAli avatar
Elnath is the bright star to the right. Mars is that exploding white "star" to the left


Best thing to do is to wait for mars to drift out of the FOV then.

I see! I thought using a narrowband filter would negate such problems but lesson learned
 Thank you
Geoff avatar
Geoff avatar
Elnath is the bright star to the right. Mars is that exploding white "star" to the left


Best thing to do is to wait for mars to drift out of the FOV then.

I see! I thought using a narrowband filter would negate such problems but lesson learned
 Thank you

Narrowband won’t help. The sun is emitting loads of Ha and Mars is shining with reflected sunlight, so you get Ha light pollution from Mars
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