The Soul Nebula

A cosmic neighbor of the Heart Nebula, the Soul Nebula is about 7500 light-years away. It is a classic nebula of ionized hydrogen gas in Cassiopeia that is glowing from the intense radiation of some hot stars in the core (which gives it it’s orange/red color.)

November 1, 2024

Completely reprocessed in PixInsight.

Technical Details

Imaging Telescope: William Optics RedCat 51 II

Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro

Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro

Filter: Antlia Tri-band RGB Ultra Filter - 2” Mounted

Accessories: ZWO ASIAIR Plus, ZWO EAF, ZWO Filter Drawer (Gen 2)

Software: PixInsight, Starnet, BlurXterminator, NoiseXterminator

Guiding Telescope: William Optics UniGuide 32

Guiding Camera: ZWO ASI174MM

Imaging Dates: Jan. 27, 2024

Frames (gain 101.0) f/4.9 -10c: 60x180” (3h)

Integration Time: 3h

Darks/Flats/Dark Flats: 30/30/30

Bortle Dark-Sky Scale: 6.00

January 28, 2024

Finally! After nearly a month of clouds and bitter cold, I was able to get back to collecting some data. Last night I was able to get about 3 hours to compose my first image of the Soul Nebula. Like the Heart Nebula, I found this target very difficult to image from my location, as it's toward the northern sky, which is toward my greatest source of light pollution.