NGC 3324
Russ says:
“This Hubble palette image of a Southern Hemisphere jewel, NGC 3324, was a collaboration: I collected the data and Shawn in Canada did the processing. Here in New South Wales I have Bortle 5 skies, which helps, and a 15-minute drive from my home I’m into Bortle 2.”
Equipment: ZWO ASI 1600MM Pro mono camera, Sky-Watcher Black Diamond 200/1000 f/5 reflector, Sky-Watcher NEQ6 mount Exposure: 87 x 180” Software: SGPro, PixInsight
Shawn’s top tips: “Russ has a good, dark night sky to collect the data from. While it’s possible to do narrowband imaging from light-polluted areas, there is nothing better than a dark site. I used PixInsight for its precision set of tools and was pleased with the result. A collaboration like this gives an opportunity to see and work with data from different scopes, different cameras and different world locations, which would be unrealistic and perhaps unaffordable to do otherwise. It’s also an opportunity to learn from each other, not only imaging techniques but processing too. And it’s not uncommon to make a new friend out of it!”