Horsehead NGC2359
Thor's Helmet
Horsehead

(Click on image for Full Resolution)


Date: January 21, 2004
Exposure: HaLRGB (3nm) 420m:120m:105m:105m:210m
14 x 1800s Ha, 48 x 300s L, 9 x 900s R,G, 14 x 900s B
Processing: Captured with CCDSoftV5, MaxIm for Image calibration,(20 flats dark subtracted and Sigma Reject combined, 48 bias frames Sigma Reject combined, 24-1800s darks Sigma Reject combined), dead/hot pixel removal, alignment, normalization. Photoshop CS with for final processing and jpg conversion.
Conditions: Clear, but terrible seeing conditions, Mag 3-4 Skies
Scope: AP155EDF, f/7 (1.671 arcsec/pix), Vixen 102mm Flourite @ f/9 for guiding. All equipment on a Paramount ME and can be seen here.
Camera: SBIG ST-8XE, -25°, SBIG ST-237A for guiding
Comments: NGC2359 is a bright emission and/or reflection nebula in Canis Major and is approx. 30 light years across and 15,000 light years away. The data was collected over 4 nights to produce the 16 hours of exposures for this image.