This is becoming my another favorite.  I’ve struggled with capturing and processing this object, partly because of weather and because of equipment malfunction.  The first try was good enough but I realized the sulfur-2 data was bad and processing made it like a nightmare because of all the stars.

The Wizard Nebula is located some 7200 light years away and is surrounded by developing star clusters.  With this latest image, instead of removing the stars, I felt like the stars are actually making the image really look different, different from others.  I love the color of the stars and see the dust lanes glowing because of the starlight.

Equipment

• ZWO ASI1600MM-Cool
• ZWO 8 position 1.25″ EFW
• Orion Narrowband filters (Ha, O3, S2) 7nm bandpass
• Orion Atlas EQ-G Mount
• Orion ED80T-CF
• Orion SSAG (Guide Cam)
• Orion 80mm Short Tube (Guide Scope)
• EQ Focuser
• EQ Switch

Capture and Processing

• Sequence Generator Pro
• PixInsight
• Photoshop CC 2018

Sub/Frames Information

• Ha – 44 x 300 secs
• O3 – 42 x 300 secs
• S2 – 60 x 300 secs
• Dark – 40
• bias – 50