Brian Orr took this stunning image of the Popped Balloon Nebula using his SVX102T refractor and SFFR.74 reducer/flattener. Brian writes: CTB1 (Abell 85), also sometimes referred to as the Garlic Nebula or the Popped Balloon Nebula, is an extremely faint but large supernova remnant located about 10,000 light years away in the constellation Cassiopeia. CTB1 measures around 100 light years in diameter and is roughly the size of a full moon, as viewed from earth. This was without a doubt my most ambitious project to date since I started in down this rabbit hole two and half years ago. Because this target is so faint, it takes many hours of data to reveal any significant detail and I intentionally dialed back the star layer to highlight more of the spectacular structure of the nebula. This image is a result of almost 44 hours’ worth of data, captured over several nights in October and November of 2022 from my bortle 5/6 back yard in northeast Ohio, USA.
Equipment and Details:
Stellarvue SVX102T Telescope (reduced to 530mm @F5.25)
Stellarvue .74x Reducer
ASI2600mm-Pro Astro Camera
iOptron CEM70 Telescope Mount
Pegasus Astro Focus Cube 2
ZWO OAG-L
ASI290mini guide camera
Pegasus PowerBox Advance
Astronomik 6nm Hydrogen Alpha, Oxygen filters, Deep Sky RGB
HA - 260x300”
Oiii - 242x300”
Red – 20x120”
Green – 20x120”
Blue – 20x120”
43.8 hours Total Integration
Captured and processed with NINA, PHD2, Astro Pixel Processor, Photoshop