Simcoe Skies Astronomy

C6 - The Cat's Eye Nebula

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C6 - Cat's Eye
C6 - Cat's Eye Nebula
This nebula is very elusive, because it's bright and small and is easily mistaken for a star! After hunting for 2 nights, I finally found it right there in my field of view, under higher magnification. I had occasional cloud while acquiring this image, but oddly, there was no evidence of cloud in the data - probably due to IR penetration.

Date: Sept 8/04
Exposures: 123 of 124
Exposure length: 6 seconds
Amp on setting: OFF
Brightness: 50
Gain: 50
Notes: This is a tiny and bright object in Draco, and I overexposed it. The center is particularly overexposed, and "blooming" is evident, washing it out. Cloudy conditions hurt the nebula detail. Mental note: next time, reduce the gain and/or time exposure to end up with a center star point.

Reprocessed and Enlarged
I tried reprocessing the same AVI using fewer exposures to see if I could reduce the blooming, and I used K3CCDtools to enlarge it.

Date: Sept 8/04
Exposures: 17 of 124
Exposure length: 6 seconds
Amp on setting: OFF
Brightness: 50
Gain: 50
Notes: Blooming still evident indicating overexposure (or possibly IR light scattering through clouds?).

3rd try at processing
Reprocessed again!
Still the same AVI. Hand picked the best 70 frames and cut down the contrast (still 2x size), but the background black level looks a little greenshifted now.

Date: Sept 8/04
Exposures: 70 of 124
Exposure length: 6 seconds
Amp on setting: OFF
Brightness: 50
Gain: 50
Notes: Blooming reduced a little in histogram. Needs a new AVI without the clouds and maybe at a lower gain setting.

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	C6 - Cat's Eye Nebula This nebula is very elusive, because it's bright and small and is easily mistaken for a star! After hunting for 2 nights, I finally found it right there in my field of view, under higher magnification. I had occasional cloud while acquiring this image, but oddly, there was no evidence of cloud in the data - probably due to IR penetration. Date: Sept 8/04 Exposures: 123 of 124 Exposure length: 6 seconds Amp on setting: OFF Brightness: 50 Gain: 50 Notes: This is a tiny and bright object in Draco, and I overexposed it. The center is particularly overexposed, and "blooming" is evident, washing it out. Cloudy conditions hurt the nebula detail. Mental note: next time, reduce the gain and/or time exposure to end up with a center star point.

	Reprocessed and Enlarged I tried reprocessing the same AVI using fewer exposures to see if I could reduce the blooming, and I used K3CCDtools to enlarge it. Date: Sept 8/04 Exposures: 17 of 124 Exposure length: 6 seconds Amp on setting: OFF Brightness: 50 Gain: 50 Notes: Blooming still evident indicating overexposure (or possibly IR light scattering through clouds?).

	Reprocessed again! Still the same AVI. Hand picked the best 70 frames and cut down the contrast (still 2x size), but the background black level looks a little greenshifted now. Date: Sept 8/04 Exposures: 70 of 124 Exposure length: 6 seconds Amp on setting: OFF Brightness: 50 Gain: 50 Notes: Blooming reduced a little in histogram. Needs a new AVI without the clouds and maybe at a lower gain setting.