EMISSION NEBULA NGC 281, THE PACMAN NEBULA
HaRGB image taken from the backyard (click on image for larger size):
Image acquisition and processing details:
| Telescope: | William Optics Zenithstar 105mm APO refractor, f/5.6 with 0.8 FR/FF. |
| Mount: | Celestron CGE, remotely controlled with NexRemote. |
| Camera: | SBIG ST-10XME cooled to -25C, internal guiding. All images binned 1x1. |
| Filters, Exposure Times: | AstroDon Hydrogen-Alpha 90 min (9x10 min), Red 90 min (9x10 min), Green 30 min (3x10 min), Blue 40 min (4x10 min). Additional data was obtained but discarded. |
| Dates (Universal Coordinated Time): | 15/16/17/18-Oct-2007 |
| Moon Phase: | 9% - 30% |
| Location: | Xanadu Observatory, poolside |
| Software: | MaximDL, TheSky, CCDInspector, CCDStack, Adobe Photoshop |
| Notes: | PacMan was a gobbling monster from early video games. When I
was a teenager I worked in an arcade for a while and got pretty good at
it. This nebula is also known as Sharpless 2-184. It is believed to be about 5500 light years away. |