The Flying Bat, Sh 2-129, and the
Giant Squid, Ou4, Nebulae in Cepheus
Hover over the picture for an annotated version
Date: 9, 16, 19, 27 August, 15, 16, and 20 September 2023
FOV: Cropped to 6° × 4°; the angular size of Sh 2-129 is about 3°
Telescope: Askar FRA300 pro (300mm f/5 Petzval)
Guiding: ZWO ASI120MM mini mono guide camera,
SVBony SV165 Mini 40mm f/4 guide scope
Computer: ASIair pro Raspberry Pi
Mount: ZWO AM5 mount
Camera: ZWO ASI6200MC Pro Cooled (-10°C) Color CMOS
Pixel size: 3.76 μm
Resolution: 2.592 arcsec/pixel
Frames:9 Aug 2327 × 240 seconds × 300 gain,
16 Aug 2384 × 240 seconds × 300 gain,
19 Aug 2385 × 240 seconds × 300 gain,
27 Aug 2333 × 240 seconds × 300 gain,
15 Sep 2391 × 240 seconds × 300 gain,
16 Sep 2329 × 240 seconds × 300 gain,
20 Sep 2395 × 240 seconds × 300 gain
Filter: Optolong L-Ultimate 2" Light Pollution Dual Band Filter
Stacking: Four hundred forty-four 240 second frames using Pixinsight
Calibration frames: 20 dark, 20 flat, 20 dark flat for each session
Total Time: 29 hours and 36 minutes
Processing: Pixinsight – ChannelExtraction → RGB, PMath R + G → OIII,
LRGBCombination G as G and OIII as B → BlueSquid,
BlurXT and NoiseXT on BlueSquid, HST, GAME to mask Ou4,
PMath R + B + G → L, LRGBComb L 0.35 R G OIII → Master,
SPCC, DBE, SPCC, BlurXT, NoiseXT, MStr, GHS, HST,
PixelMath MStr + GHS + HST, StarXT → Stars and Starless,
Starless HDR4, PMath HDR4 + 0.2*BlueSquid + Stars, Scale
Location: 19 August 2023 in Cherry Springs State Park near Coudersport, PA with
the remaining sessions at Darling Hill Observatory near Vesper, NY
