IC 1318b. Butterfly nebula

 Posted: Mar 21st, 2026
Show astrometry on hover
NGC
IC
HD
Technical Info
Telescope/Lens: Askar 71F
Camera: ZWO ASI585MC Pro
Mount: HEQ5 Pro
Guide Scope: ZWO OFF-AXIS-GUIDER
Guide Camera: Zwo ASI 120 MM
Software: PixInsight, Gra Xpert, Siril
Accessories: Asiair plus.
Exposure:
34 x 600" ISO/Gain: 200 - LAIDA Dual band filter Ha+OIII
Green, Bortle 4 zone:
 Tallinn, Estonia
 Mar 20th, 2026
5 h 40 m
126
Resolution: 3815x2149 px
Scale: 10465 KB
It turned out masterfully, as the object was captured under extreme conditions. During the shoot, a solar wind surge hit and the sky was simply ablaze with aurora. I didn’t stop shooting, although on some frames the aurora still broke through despite the filter.

Processing by @CAHEK_61.
Add comment

Comments

Cool, it looks like an X-ray of lungs.
21 Mar, 2026 Reply
Andres Trn Replied to Poppy8micro
Thank you. Well, yes, there's something to that. But it reminds me more of a butterfly.
25 Mar, 2026 Reply
And where do the rays on the refractor come from?
25 Mar, 2026 Reply
Andres Trn Replied to Urmasx
A mask with a cross-shaped aperture for collimation. After using a Newtonian telescope, I really liked the way stars looked with it, so I made this mask.
25 Mar, 2026 Reply
Urmasx Replied to Andres Trn
The beauty of a reflector is that you can easily stack data from multiple imaging sessions, even over several years.
The diffraction spikes here would get in the way.
25 Mar, 2026 Reply
Andres Trn Replied to Urmasx
Thank you very much. I'll keep that in mind. I hadn't thought about that before.
25 Mar, 2026 Reply

Comments are available only to registered users. Register or log in to leave a comment.