The North America Project SII

20:13 19/8/2009 UTC

Clear sky allowed me to continue this project with SII data. Clouds disturbed the session a bit, but I could do little over two hours of exposures. This image is an unusual representation of this object without H-alfa. The colors are mapped as SII:OIII:OIII. I will receive my H-alfa tomorrow, that's going to do the magick to this image. I hope I have an opportunity to use it soon. H-alfa will be a lot more brigther than any of these two and should improve the image signifigantly.

Camera: Atik Instruments 4000LE | Telescope: Skywatcher ED80 Pro 80mm f7.5 refractor, William Optics 0.8x focal reducer | Mount: Vixen GP-D2, Boxdoerfer PowerFlex MTS-3SLP drive controller | Filters: Baader OIII 8.5nm 2", Baader SII 8nm 2" | Guiding: , The Imaging Source DMK 21AU04.AS CCD camera, Orion ShortTube 80mm f5 refractor, Stark-Labs PHD Guiding | Exposure: OIII 18x600s (3h) unbinned, dithered, CCD @ -10° f6, SII 13x600s (2h10m) unbinned, dithered, CCD @ -10° f6, SII:OIII:OIII Mapping | Software: CCDWare CCDStack, Adobe Photoshop CS4, Stark-Labs Nebulosity 2 | Location: 60°31'N 26°52'E (Koivula/Kotka,FI) | Background sky brightness (SQM): 19.98mag/arcsec²