Instrument

Takahashi FSQ-106ED @ f/5.0 (530 mm F.L.) Captured at 2.1 arcsec/pixel.  The Zoomify image scale is 2.80 to 9.77 arcsec / pixel.

Mount

Losmandy G11 with Gemini L4 v1.0

Camera

SBIG STF-8300M Self Guiding Package w/ mono ST-i, using Astrodon filters.

Acquisition Data

9/25/2012 to 10/21/2012 Chino Valley, AZ... with CCDAutoPilot5 & CCDSoft.  Off-axis guided.

Exposure

Click here for the RGB color image.

Click here for the Ha filtered image.

Software

• CCDSoft, CCDStack, Photoshop CS6, PixInsight and Noel Carboni's actions.

• CCDStack to calibrate, register, normalize, data reject, combine the sub exposures.

• PixInsight for gradient removal and the initial non-linear stretching.

• PhotoShop for color combine & final touch-up.

• Noiseware Pro, a PhotoShop plug-in.

North is to the right.

Sharpless 157, the Claw Nebula, is a bright emission nebula in the constellations Cassiopeia and Cepheus at a distance of about 8,000 light-years. At the bottom-right is the open star cluster NGC 7510, about 9,900 light-years away.

Both images were created using the Hubble color palette, with SII, Ha and OIII data mapped to red, green and blue respectively. In the top image, the color channels were adjusted so the hydrogen (green), sulfur (red) and oxygen (blue) areas are easily identified. The bottom image uses the same filter mapping with adjustments to the channel levels to create the popular turquoise and gold motif.