Last week for three early dawns, I forced myself out of bed
to gather data for this image of NGC 6888, popularly known as the Crescent
Nebula. I attempted to frame the image with emission nebulosity at the bottom
to represent an open palm seemingly catching a falling object. The intricate folds and filaments of the
Crescent respond well to the H-alpha filter while the bluish shroud covering
the nebula is highlighted by using an OIII narrowband filter.
Technical details: Exposures made with H-alpha filter of 90
minutes, OIII filter of 90 minutes using STF-8300M camera. Color exposures of
60 minutes using Canon 400D DSLR. Acquisition software: Nebulosity; Processed
in IRIS; Post-processing in PS CS2. I had a challenging time processing this image as it was my first
time to deal with OIII combined with H-alpha data. All data taken at my place
in Taguig City.
