Collecting  Photons

North to the right    1600x1056    2048x1342

Objects: a couple of faint reflection nebulae VdB 14 to the north and VdB 15  with an associated dust formation.

Constellation:     Camelopardalis

Coordinates of field center: 3h 31m +59° 24'

Notes: An utterly fascinating and surprising object. The two illuminating stars are two supergiants, of spectral type B9Ia (VdB 14) and A0Ia (VdB 15). Although their spectra is not powerful enough in the UV to produce sizable ionization, they are more than enough to provide a fantastic illumination pattern on the surrounding dust cloud.

Telescope and camera: ASA 10', f 3.6; SBIG STL 11000.

Exposure: Luminance 83x8'; R,B 23x10'; G 23x8''. About 22 hrs in total.

Date: six nights on 27, 29-10-09 and on 10, 11, 18, 19-11-09.

Software used: acquisition, CCDsoft. Calibration; registration and stacking: CCDstack, Registar; processing: PixInsight, Photoshop CS. 

Processing notes: I tried to enhance the subtle coloration of the reflection nebulae and their many tiny details. Please see the larger images for a better view of the complexity of these nebulae. Processing was very hard because of difficult color gradients due to my abysmal sky conditions. At the end of the workflow I applied a gentle multiscale filtering to improve the contrast of the nebula filaments and a level adjustment in the cLab space to enhance color contrast. A further element of difficulty of the image was posed by the very bright stars that required energetic treatment to be kept at bay!

Copyright © 2009 by Gimmi Ratto. (November 25, 2009)