Astrophoto: Hubble in the Bubble

Here’s a beautiful look at the Bubble Nebula, taken by astrophotographer Terry Hancock using what’s known as the “Hubble Palette,” — imaging in very narrow wavelengths of light using various filters. This allows very subtle details to be revealed, things that the human eye cannot see. Terry has been working on this one for a while — since mid-August — but the results are spectacular!

Terry took images from his “DownUnder Observatory” in Fremont, Michigan. He explains the image and techniques he used:

This last capture over 10 nights took me since mid-August 2013 to complete due to very high moisture in our West Michigan Skies right through this shoot. So, the data is therefore noisy and not the best but it is time to call it done for this year and move on! Due to poor conditions I had to use the H-Alpha data I had from my RGB+HA version using the QHY11 and combine with only one night capture using the QHY9 with it’s 3nm H-Alpha filter.

Using narrow band filters and post processed using the Hubble Palette technique the SII filter is assigned to Red, SII is assigned to Green and OIII is assigned to blue channel.

Total exposure time was 26 hours — persistence pays off! Thanks to Terry for sharing his gorgeous image!

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