Image – NGC 7822 – HaRGB

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Description

NGC 7822 is a star forming HII region in the constellation Cepheus.
The image is showing the bright central region named Cederblad 214 (Ced 214).
There is also a young cluster of star named Berkeley 59 (bottom part of the center of image).

Research and Observations

The complex also includes one of the hottest stars discovered within 1 kpc of the Sun, namely BD+66 1673, which is an eclipsing binary system consisting of an O5V that exhibits a surface temperature of nearly 45,000 K and a luminosity about 100,000 times that of the Sun.

Acquisition Details

This image was captured over the course of two nights:
Aug 27th 2022
– 2.5 hours (15 X 10 min. exposures via Hydrogen Alpha filter)
Sep 1st 2022
– 2 hours (20 X 2 min. exposure via R, G and B filters)
– 1 hour 50 minutes (10 X 10 min. exposures via Hydrogen Alpha filter)

Total Integration Time: 6 hours 10 minutes

Acquisition Start Time: 21h10
Acquisition Stop Time: 02h30

Image Information

Object(s) Catalog No: NGC7822
Object TypeNebula
ConstellationCepheus
Size100′
Magnitude10.03
Distance3300 LY
Field of View2.06° x 1.55°

Conditions

DateAugust 27th, 2022
Astronomical Dusk:21h22 EDST
Moon Age0.2
Moon PhaseNew Moon
Temperature16.7º
TransparencyBelow Average
SeeingAbove Average
Wind6 km/h
Dew Point14º
Sky ADU1550
Sky Flux (e/min)not calculated

Equipment

Software

MountRetrofitted CGEM (OnStep)
Imaging ScopeOrion ED80T CF
Guiding ScopeAPM 60mm Image Master
Imaging CameraSBIG ST-8300M
Guiding CameraQHYCCD: QHY5L-II-M
Additional OpticsSharpStar Field Flattener – 2.5″
FiltersHa, R, G, B
AcquisitionSequence Generator Pro
Auto-GuidingPHD2 Guiding
ProcessingPixinsight
PlanetariumSky Planetarium

Subframe Details

FiltersLRGBHaOIISII
Camera Temperature-10° C-10° C-10° C-10° C
Binning2×22×22×21×1
Number of sub-frames20202025
Sub-frames duration (sec)120120120600
Number of good sub-frames
Number of Flats20202020
Flats Duration (sec)0.420.310.4831.13
Number of Darks1111
Darks Duration (sec)120600
Number of Bias5151

Auto-Focuser Position: 2882

Autoguiding Average : 0.6″ RMS

Acquisition Notes

Increase the plate solve (“until error is less than”) from 50 to 125 to avoid failure.

Focuser slippage interrupted the first night of acquisition.

Processing Notes

R, G and B subframes where shot using Bin2x2. This was probably too under sampled for the ED80T CF at 480mm F6.0 and created square stars. With researches and trial/error, Bicubic B-Spline pixel interpolation for the image registration was found to resolve the issue.

Not enough therefore very noisy R, G and B sub-exposures.

Gradient was difficult to remove on R, G and B sub-exposures because most of the image is filled with nebulosity.

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