Astrophotography by Keith B. Quattrocchi


NGC 1999
Reflection Nebula in Orion
Narrow Band in SHO Palette  

Copyright 2021
Keith B Quattrocchi and Bray Falls

Image Acquisition Information  
                    
Telescope: 16" RCOS Richey Chretien Telescope (ion milled at f/9) 
Camera: ZWO Full Frame Back Illuminated CMOS ASI 6200 MM
Guiding: Starlight Xpress AO with UltraStar Autoguiding Camera (AO control using maxim DL software).
Filters: Astrodon LRBG, H-alpha, S-II and OIII Filters
Acquisition Programs: NINA, The SkyX, PHD2, PWI4
Processing Programs: PixInsight, RC Astro, CCDStack, Photoshop CS4
Date: Data processed on March 9, 2021.  Data acquisition: February 2021                             
Time:  8 hours (10 minute exposures) for each of Ha, SII. OIII for a total of 24 hours.  LRGB starfield also obtained.                              

Image Information:  NGC 1999 is a reflection nebula in the constellation Orion, notable for a distinctive, keyhole-shaped void at its center.  Discovered by Sir William Herschel and his sister Caroline, the nebula is located within the Orion A Giant Molecular Cloud, a region of active star formation about 1,350 to 1,500 light-years away.

Processing Information  This Ha/SII/OIII images were obtained using  AstroDon filters.  The Ha/S-II/OIII images were batch processed (calibrated, registered, normalized and integrated) in PixInsignt.   Further stretching, high pass filtering and background smoothing was performed with Adobe Photoshop CS/4 and PixInsight.