The Heart, Soul, and Bear Claw Nebulas. Taken over the course of 7 nights from Nashville, TN. A total of 33 hours exposure.

One of my favorite things about astrophotography is "surprises" that show up in images. I lined up the Heart and Soul Nebulas (aptly named) in the frame, and started my exposures. All was going as planned, until about 10 hours into taking this image, when a pale blue smudge started showing up on the bottom/right of the frame. I initially thought it was a blemish/internal reflection that was causing unwanted errors in the image, but after a little research I found that it was another nebula...the Bear Claw Nebula. It's the little things in life, you know? The ones that are hundreds of light years wide! 🙂

I hope you enjoy this image as much as I enjoyed taking it.

Imaging telescope: TPO Ultrawide 180
Imaging camera: ZWO ASI2600MC Pro
Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ6R-PRO
Guiding telescope: ZWO Mini Guide Scope
Guiding camera: ZWO ASI290MM Mini

Software: Pleiades Astrophoto PixInisight, Aries Productions Astro Pixel Processor, ZWO ASIAir Pro, Photoshop CC
Filters: Optolong L-eXtreme 2", Optolong L-Pro 2''

Dates: Sept. 28, 2021, Sept. 29, 2021, Oct. 5, 2021, Oct. 8, 2021, Oct. 9, 2021, Oct. 10, 2021, Oct. 11, 2021

Frames:
Optolong L-Pro 2'': 60x60" (1h) (gain: 100.00) -10C bin 1x1
Optolong L-eXtreme 2": 96x1200" (32h) (gain: 100.00) -10C bin 1x1
Integration: 33h
Darks: 40
Flats: 40
Flat darks: 40

Bortle Dark-Sky Scale: 8.00

Calibrated and stacked in AstroPixel Processor.

Color calibration, stretching, noise reduction, star removal/re-integration in Pixinsight.

Touch up in Photoshop CC.