The Crab Nebula (SHO)

Target details

The Crab Nebula (M1, NGC 1952, Taurus A) is the wreckage of a supernova in Taurus, about 6,500 light-years away, and was the first object linked to a recorded supernova explosion. Its name comes from a drawing William Parsons made in 1840 with a 36-inch telescope. At magnitude 8.4 it's too faint for the naked eye but can be seen in binoculars under good skies. At its heart is the Crab Pulsar, a neutron star just 28–30 km across that spins 30.2 times a second, sending out pulses of radiation from gamma rays to radio waves.

Capture details

Data captured 12 November, 2017.
17x 5 minute exposures with Ha filter.
14x 5 minute exposures with Sii filter.
15x 5 minute exposure with Oiii filter.

Equipment details

Skywatcher Quattro 200 CF
NEQ6 Pro
Starlight Xpress SX-674 Mono
Skywatcher ST-80
QHY5L-II

Processing details

This image was processed in Pixinsight & Lightroom.

Calibration and Stacking in Pixinsight using Batch PreProcessing
Dynamic Crop - To remove black edges & integration artifacts. (Each Channel)
Dynamic Background Extraction - To remove gradients. (Each Channel)
Deconvolution - To bring out some fine detail & tighten stars. (Each Channel)
Multiscale Linear Transform - Noise reduction. (Each Channel)
Masked Stretch - To stretch the image and bring out the data. (Each Channel)
Channel Combination - To combine the channels using SHO (The Hubble Palette).
Local Histogram Equalisation - To improve contrast. With starless mask in place.
Multiscale Linear Transform - To Sharpen. With staress mask in place.
Curves Transformation - To increase Contrast. With staress mask in place.
Curves Transformation - To increase Saturation. With staress mask in place.
Curves Transformation - To boost brightness using Luminance channel. With staress mask in place.

Export as JPEG and import into Lightroom.
Enhance Contrast (+50)
Clip Shadows (-25)
Clip Blacks (-25)
Boost Saturation (+15)

Export final JPEG for upload.