Astrophotography by Keith B. Quattrocchi

IC 1318b: Butterfly Nebula 
Central Region: Emission Nebula in Cygnus
Composite NB/LRGB Image

Copyright 2008
Keith B Quattrocchi

       
Image Acquisition Information                      
 
Telescope: 16" RCOS Richey Chretien Telescope (ion milled at 6/9) 
Camera: SBIG STL-6303 M
Guiding: SBIG AOL, Astrodon  MOAG AOG (SBIG 237 with FLR)
Filters: Astrodon L, R, G, B, Ha, SII, OIII
Mount: Software Bisque Paramount ME
Acquisition Programs: The Sky,CCDAutopliot III, CCD Soft. 
Processing Programs: CCDStack, Maxim DL, Photoshop
Date: June 14-June 25, 2008                              
Time: 18x20 min ( 6 hours) each for each of L, R, G, B, Ha, SII and OIII:
Total of 42 hours imaging time.                              
Processing:  CCD Stack and PhotoShop CS/3
 
Image Infornmation:  This is a composite of the NB and LRGB images. The image represents a total of 42 hours of data form 7 filters.  As previously noted, IC 1318 is a large emission nebula surrounding Sadr, within  Cygnus the Swan.  The northern section, also known as the Butterfly nebula (IC 1318b) has a dark nebulosity which bisects it (this image was taken near this region).  IC 1318b  It is primarily made up of ionized hydrogen but there is a significant SII component.  The nebula is believed to be about 4000 light years distant.  This image, spanning about about 15 arc-min, and located near the dark nebulosity, is just a small part of this large, 1.5 degree, nebula (IC 1318a, b and c).

Additional Comments:  The Narrow Band image was processed using CCDStack, producing a Narrow Band  image (Hubble Palatte).  The Narrow Band image was created by unequally weighting the SII, Ha and OIII images (the green H-alpha channel would otherwise overwhelm the image) and assembling in CCDStack.  The LRGB data was produced as an RGB in CCDStack which was blended using layers in Photoshop CS/3, with the Luminance image.  The NB and LRGB imges were layered in Photoshop CS/3 using "soft light".  The balance did slightly favor the NB image, which contained more H-alpha detail/data.  Further data stretching, high pass filtering and background smoothing was performed with Adobe Photoshop CS/3.