NGC 7380 - The Wizard Nebula: A Bortle 6 Backyard Spectacle
I'm thrilled to share my latest capture of the NGC 7380, famously known as the Wizard Nebula. This marks my first time observing this celestial wonder and my inaugural attempt at integrating essential calibration frames: flats, bias, and darks. Capturing deep-sky objects from my backyard, under Bortle 6 skies, presents its own set of challenges, but the results are incredibly rewarding.
The Gear and the Process
My setup for this adventure included:
- Telescope: Celestron C8 with Hyperstar
- Mount: AVX mount
- Camera: ASI585MC Pro
- Filter: Optolong L-Extreme DNB filter
I managed to collect 249 frames of 180-second exposures, totaling an impressive 12 hours and 27 minutes of light. To ensure optimal image quality, I also captured:
- 60x bias frames
- 60x dark frames
- 45x flats
The post-processing was handled using Siril, a powerful and free astrophotography processing software.
Image
A Question for the Community
While I'm very pleased with the detail in the dust structures, I'm curious about how to best reduce the star count. The sheer number of stars is beautiful, but I feel they sometimes detract from the intricate filaments of the nebula.
I'm also intrigued by the "star void" on the far left of the image – it creates a wonderfully eerie effect!
Did you encounter a similar situation with star density? Did you try stretching the data with stars present, or did you employ tools like Starnet to manage the stellar population? I'd love to hear your thoughts and techniques!
