This target so closely represents its common name, the Lion nebula. I can’t help but see an unmistakable smiling lion when looking at it. It makes me smile as well. I had also captured about 20 minutes of rgb stars for this image, and it was a first for me to use these stars as a replacement for those collected by the longer exposures with an L-Extreme filter. However, what excites me most about this image now was the observation and then the research it took to identify the tiny blue planetary nebula on the right hand side of the image (PN G101.5-00.6), and the friends I made in that pursuit.
- Taken – August 2-6th, 2022 in Rockwood ON
- 11h 50m - 142x300s lights, 30 flats, 30 dark flats, and 50 darks
- William Optics Zenithstar 81 with an asi294mc pro camera, gain 120, L-Extreme filter, cooled to -10
- EQ6R-PRO with wo50mm guide scope and asi120mm guide camera
- Asiair Plus used for image acquisition
- EAF used for focus
- Pixinsight used for stacking and image processing