My first H-alpha test of the Horsehead and Flame nebulae

H-alpha image of the Horsehead (left) and Flame (right) nebulae in Orion obtained from my backyard, 15 km from Sydney’s city centre.

This image combines 24 frames I got during some few nights in early October using the ZWO ASI1600MM Pro and the H-alpha Baader 3.5nm ultra-narrow filter.

All frames had an exposition time of 900s (15 minutes), hence this image combines a total of 6 hours of telescope time!

Telescope: Skywatcher Black Diamond 80, f=600mm (f/7.5)

Equipment: I used the ZWO ASIAir to control the camera, the mount (Skywatcher AZ-EQ6) and the guiding system (ASI120MM + Orion 50mm finderscope). The H-alpha filter was in the ZWO filter drawer.

Processing: Data processed with Siril software. FITS converted on TIFF using NASA’s Fits Liberator considering a logarithmic function. Color / saturation / levels / contrast / smart sharpen with Photoshop.

For this image I decided to give some false colour instead of just the greyscale image, I used Photoshop to get the kind of “fire” aspect to the gas in the nebulae.

I was expecting to get more data to get the image deeper, unfortunately the weather, following “La Niña”, is not cooperating in Eastern Australia in late 2020.

Credit: Ángel R. López-Sánchez (AAO-MQ).

Full resolution image available in my Flickr.