SH2-173 in SHO Palette with RGB Stars
SH2-173 in SHO Palette
SH2-173 in SHO Palette without Stars
PhaNtom of the Opera Nebula in SHO
Photo Capture Info:
(255) 3 Minute exposures in Ha - 12 hrs, 45 mins
(202) 3 Minute exposures in Sii - 10 hrs, 6 mins
(55) 3 Minute exposures in Oiii - 2 hrs, 45 mins
(50) 2 Minute exposures in Red - 1 hr, 40 mins
(50) 2 Minute exposures in Green - 1 hr, 40 mins
(50) 2 Minute exposures in Blue- 1 hr, 40 mins
Total Integration time: 14 hours, 9 minutes
Optical Equipment Used:
Antlia SHO Filters
Scope: Explore Scientific ED 127mm refractor
Camera: ZWO 2600mm
Guide scope: Agena Astro 60mm refractor
Guide camera: ZWO ASI120mm-S
Computerized Equipment and Software:
Mount: Losmandy G11G
Beelink Mini PC S Intel 11th Gen
Focuser: ZWO EAF (Electronically Assisted Focuser)
Filter Wheel: ZWO 7 Position
Pegasus Pocket Powerbox Micro
PixInsight for Processing
About SH2-173 Nebula
Sharpless catalogue object, Sh2-173 is an emission nebula lying 8,800 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cassiopeia. It is part of the Perseus arm of our Milky Way Galaxy. Its shape and dark dust clouds bear a resemblance to the mask worn by the Phantom of the Opera in the Broadway musical or the film starring Lon Chaney. Hence it is commonly referred to as the Phantom of the Opera Nebula. It is extremely faint, requiring long exposures.
Credit: https://cs.astronomy.com/asy/m/nebulae/493635.aspx
The Phantom of the Opera nebula resides in the wonderful constellation of Cassiopeia
Hydrogen Alpha (Ha)
Hydrogen Alpha (Ha) - Starless
Sulfur II (Sii)
Sulfur II (Sii) - Starless
The Chair or 'W' of Cassiopeia
About Casseiopeia
Mythology:
An ancient constellation that is part of the story of Perseus and Andromeda. Cassiopeia was the mother of Andromeda, and because of her boasting that she was more beautiful than the sea nymphs, the Nereids, she was forced by the god Poseidon to sacrifice her daughter to the sea monster Cetus. Also as punishment the image of Cassiopeia was placed in the sky in such a way that during part of the year the queen appears upside down.
Astronomy Facts:
Sits in the outer Milky Way
GREAT for Binoculars!
Is Circumpolar (Seen in the northern Hemisphere year round)
Easy to show and teach to Kids "W in the sky"
Contains Open Clusters M52 and M103 (Use Binoculars and Star Charts to find them!)
PixInsight Processing Details
WBPP used for calibrating and stacking (R,G,B,Ha,Sii,Oiii)
Blur Xterminator on each filtered exposure stack
SpectrophotometricCC_SHO
Histogram Stretch to get to Linear State
Removed Stars using Star XTerminator
Generalize Hyberbolic Stretch to bring out the Sii
HDRMultiscaleTransform
Phantom_Ha_092023_619mm_2600mm
Slight S-Curves Adjustment
LocalHistogramEqualization @ 25
LocalHistogramEqualization @ 75
LocalHistogramEqualization @ 125
MultiscaleLinearTransform with small values to Sharpen
Blur Xterminator to bring out more detail
Noise Xterminator @ 90
Add back in RGB Stars using James Lamb's Pixelmath formula
ICC Profile Transformation (Ready image for the Web)