Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Scorpius (Sco)  ·  Contains:  NGC 6357  ·  the War and Peace Nebula
NGC 6357 Lobster Nebula, Martin Dowd
NGC 6357 Lobster Nebula
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NGC 6357 Lobster Nebula

NGC 6357 Lobster Nebula, Martin Dowd
NGC 6357 Lobster Nebula
Powered byPixInsight

NGC 6357 Lobster Nebula

Equipment

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Acquisition details

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Description

This is only my second time capturing NGC 6357 commonly referred to the Lobster Nebula ( aka War and Peace Nebula ) First time was over 2 years ago using a OSC and Dualband which resulted in a poor image due to insufficient data and poor conditions.

This time using a bigger scope,  a 2600MM with 3nm filters and significantly more data ……,
Captured over 2 nights ( 11 hours integration) 
Waxing Moon 60% to 70%
Seeing conditions average 
Bortle 8 City suburban skies 
8”f5 Klaus Helmerich Carbon fibre Newtonian Reflector 
Skywatcher EQ6-R pro mount
ZWO 2600MM cooled to -10C , Gain 100
ZWO 7x2” EFW
ZWO EAF
Orion 60mm guide scope with helical focuser 
ZWO 120MM guide scope 
PHD2 Multistar guiding ( total error avg 0.50 to 0.60 arc sec ) 
Antlia 3nm Filters
Ha 60 x 5min dithered subs
Oiii 39 x 5min dithered subs
Sii 37 x 5min dithered subs
Darks frames from Library 
Flats Ha , Oiii and Sii
Flat Darks Ha, Oiii and Sii
Analysed , Calibrated, Stacked and Aligned in ASTAP
Processed in Startools V1.8 via Compose 
Colour HST / SHO preset with saturation and colour bias adjustments

Although initial stretch was still quite noisy , the final image turned out much better than my previous attempt 

Thanks for looking 
Comments welcome 
Martin

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NGC 6357 Lobster Nebula, Martin Dowd