Wednesday, March 17, 2021

IC 443 - Jellyfish Nebula

IC 443, a.k.a. SH2-248, is commonly called the Jellyfish nebula for its similar appearance to the marine sea creature.  It is a giant supernova remnant (SNR) located approximately 5000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Gemini.  The exact age is uncertain, however, it is believed that the supernova event that produced what we see now occurred some 3,000 to 30,000 years ago.  Recent research from the Chandra X-ray observatory indicates that the explosion that formed the nebula also created a neutron star or pulsar and further suggest the age is likely tens of thousands of years old making the 30,000 year old age more likely. 


My favorite parts of this nebula are the stringers at the base of the main body and the high density area on the top left side of the main body where it seems to explode outward.  I was imaging this for quite a while starting when the moon was out capturing a couple hours or so per night for a total of 12 nights.  Of course I had to trash quite a few sub frames due to the marvelous Connecticut sky conditions.  Processing was straight forward and I did few new things that I picked up from others.  I like removing the stars with Starnet++ but I always have trouble putting them back but this time I think I did OK.  I have to Starnet++ the old fashioned, through Windows, as the last time PixInsight updated it stopped working.

Dates: 2-4-21, 2-5-21, 2-8-21, 2-9-21, 2-20-21, 2-25-21, 3-1-21, 3-2-21, 3-3-21, 3-4-21, 3-5-21

https://kurtzeppetello.smugmug.com/
http://astroquest1.blogspot.com/
https://www.astrobin.com/users/kurtzepp/collections/
http://youtube.com/c/AstroQuest1



IC 443 - Jellyfish Nebula (a.k.a. SH2-248)
Dates: 2-4-21, 2-5-21, 2-8-21, 2-9-21, 2-20-21, 2-25-21, 3-1-21, 3-2-21, 3-3-21, 3-4-21, 3-5-21
Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro 
Telescope: Astro-Tech AT115EDT 115mm Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 805mm
f/7
Focal Reducer: 0.8x AstroTech Field Flatterner/Focal Reducer
Mount: Orion Sirius
Filter Wheel: ZWO EFW 8 x 1.25"
Filter: ZWO Ha, OIII, SII, R, G, B
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope/ZWO 60mm Guidescope
Exposure: Ha 72 x 240, OIII 72 x 240, SII 73 x 240, R 40 x 60, G 40 x 60, B 40 x 60
Gain: 139
Offset 21
Temp: -2 C
Processing: NINA, PixInsight, Photoshop, Topaz DeNoiseAI.

https://kurtzeppetello.smugmug.com/
http://astroquest1.blogspot.com/
https://www.astrobin.com/users/kurtzepp/collections/
http://youtube.com/c/AstroQuest1

No comments:

Post a Comment