NGC 1514
Crystal Ball Nebula in Taurus 
Composite Ha-RGB Image
Published in "Astronomy" Gallery, June 2008

          
​Image Acquisition Information                      
 
​Telescope:   16" RCOS Ritchey-Chretien Telescope (ion milled at f/9) 
Location:     The Lost Valley Observatory, loated at Sierra Remote
Observatories in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California 
Camera:  BIG STL-6303
Guiding: Astrodon  MOAG AOG (SBIG 237 with .65 FLR)
Filters:  Astrodon Ha, R, G, B
Mount:   oftware Bisque Paramount ME
 Acquisition Programs:   The Sky,CCDAutopliot III, CCD Soft. 
Processing Programs: CCDStack, Maxim DL, Photoshop CS3
Date:: January 1-January 19, 2008                              
21x20 min ( 7 hours) each for Ha, and  6x20 min for each of
R,G,B (6 hrs) for a total of 13 hours                           
Processing:  CCD Stack and PhotoShop CS/3
 
Image Information: An irregularly lit planetary nebula in Taurus.  It has an unusually bright central star, magnitude 9.5. 
Processing Comments:  Ha-Red blend perforned  in Photoshop CS/3.  Ha-R/G/B assembled in Maxim DL.  Further processing, including data stretching (curves/levels), Shadows/Highlioghts,  High Pass filer used in PS CS/3. As with the Ha image, the image was challenging due to the presence of a full moon, manisfestd by some backgound noise.