Fun facts
Messier 78 or NGC 2068, also known as Casper the Friendly Ghost, is a bright blue reflection nebula in Orion. The nebula can be found between Betelgeuse and closer towards Alnitak. Messier 78 is the brightest reflection nebula among a group of nebulae, including NGC 2064, NGC 2067, and NGC 2071. These are part of the Orion B molecular cloud complex, including the Horsehead Nebula, the Flame Nebula, Barnard’s Loop, and M42, the Orion Nebula.
M78 has often been mistaken for a comet, which explains why the Comet Hunter Charles Messier cataloged this in his list of non-comets. M78 was discovered in 1780 by Pierre Mechain and cataloged by Charles Messier shortly after.
Distance: 1600 light years
Apparent Dimensions: 8’ x 6’
Apparent Magnitude: 8.3
Constellation: Orion
Designations: M78, NGC 2068, vdB 59, Ced 55u
{ From: https://lostphotons.com/astronomy/messier/m78/ and Stellarium}
Capture Notes
On 2025’s New Years Eve weekend (29-31Dec2024), we were able to get out for a final hoorah of dark skies with a couple of clear, albeit very windy, nights at the Mills Canyon rim in New Mexico’s Kiowa National Grassland. We got to the site and easily situated and leveled the Beast and made quick work of setting up camp (I’d convinced Paul to not bring the canopy because of the forecasted winds of 25+ mph). I set up both Big Bertha and the Southern Cross to take maximum advantage of the waning nebula “season” and our two nights in dark skies.
M78 Casper was the second target of the second night (30Dec2024) with DSO-CTRL3 controlling Big Bertha. I started the night collecting more data (due to the laptop shutdown on the first night) on CTB1 Garlic Nebula. I then switched from CTB1 Garlic Nebula to M78 Casper at about 23:00MST, after I did the meridian flip on the SC (IC405 Flaming Star).
During the target swap from CTB1 to M78, I changed the camera rotation angle from its current 90° (for CTB1 Garlic) to 0° (for M78) in accordance with the SGP angle I had noted on my planning spreadsheet. That turned out to be incorrect, so I SGP had me rotate it back to 90° during plate solving. Other than that small glitch, everything went well, including having DSO-CTRL3 operate throughout the night wrapped in only a towel as the temperature plunged from 23° to 17°.
Sequence Plan (30Dec2024): Gain: 158, Temp: -0°C, offset=30. 77x180sec. Total: 231 minutes (3:51hrs).
Captured 30Dec2024, 23:19MST – 31Dec2024, 03:32MST.
Processing: Captured in SGP, stacked in APP (Adaptive Airy Disc), star removal with Starnet++, processing with LR/PS
Equipment
Equipment: All equipment controlled by HP Probook DSO-CTRL3 running Sequence Generator Pro v4.4.0.1441.
- Imaging (Mills Rim, 30Dec2024): ZWO ASI2400MC imaging camera on (Big Bertha) Orion 8″ f/8 Ritchey-Chretien Astrograph Telescope, Teleskop Service (TS) 2.5” Rack and Pinon Focuser M90, Teleskop Service Flattener 1.0x for RC Telescopes (TS-RCFLAT2)
- Autofocuser: ZWO EAF Electronic Automatic Focuser – Standard (EAF-5V-STD)
- Mount: Rainbow Astro RST-300 (controlled by iHubo ASCOM driver)
- Polar alignment: QHYCCD camera (controlled by Polemaster for polar alignment)
- Autoguiding: Orion 60mm Multi-Use Guide Scope with Orion StarShoot AutoGuider Pro Mono Astrophotography Camera (controlled by PHD2)
Summary
Captured: 30 December 2024
Shooting location: Mills Canyon Rim, Kiowa National Grasslands, New Mexico
Equipment: Big Bertha on Rainbow Astro RST-300
Processing summary: Captured in SGP, stacked in APP (Adaptive Airy), star removal with Starnet++, processing with LR/PS
Additional Images of M78 Casper the Friendly Ghost Nebula
Capture Notes
Capture Notes (4Dec2024): We cancelled our Thanksgiving trip to Cincinnati because of Zeus – he had been bitten by a horsefly who, apparently, had deposited a worm into his paw. On Monday afternoon he started limping, by Monday night he could barely walk, and when I got up early on Tuesday morning to take him for a trail walk before leaving for DEN, we discovered the bloody paw – and we would not walk more than a few feet before sitting or laying down. After cancelling the Cincinnati trip, we briefly thought about driving down to Albuquerque on Friday-Saturday. But then rethought that, and decided that since it was still a holiday weekend it would be better to just stay home. I suggested a dark skies trip, since both Comanche and Kiowa National Grasslands had clear skies forecast – that idea was vetoed, we weren’t ready and it was still a holiday weekend, it would be better to stay home. So, I decided to set up Big Bertha and capture some data from the front patio, so as not to completely forego the clear nights of and surrounding the New Moon.
I imaged on Friday (29Nov2024 – CTB1 Garlic, SH2-308 Dolphin Head), Sunday (1Dec2024 – NGC1491 Fossil Footprint, SH2-261 Lower’s). Not only was I imaging, but I was dealing with the stress and sleeplessness associated with the DSO-CTRL2 random laptop shutdowns. I needed some rest on Monday-Tuesday, so didn’t image again until Wednesday night, 4 Dec 2024. That night seemed to be where the DSO CTRL2 shutdown issue hit its peak. I started the night with vdB16 Perseus Cloud. It ran 1814 – 1952MST (1:28hr) and shutdown, then ran 2021 – 2131MST (1:10hr) when I shut it down to switch to M78 Casper. I picked up imaging with M78 Casper the Friendly Ghost at approximately 2145MST. It ran 2144 – 2313MST (1:29hr) then shutdown, 0009 – 0236MST (2:27hr) then shutdown, and 0302 – 0401 (0:59hr) when I shut down the sequence to leave for my morning run. So, apparently the towel I wrapped around the laptop and its case had NOT done the trick to keep the laptop at the proper temperature to operate correctly throughout the night. ($929 lesson learned from DSO-CTRL3 – all that wrapping had the laptop overheating regardless of the outside temperature).
Although I stacked and saved the data from the 4Dec2024 session, I decided to combine the data captured from 4 Dec 2024 with the data captured in the exact same sequence with the DSO-CTRL2 (BB’s “old”) laptop swapped out for the DSO-CTRL1 (SC’s laptop) on 6 Dec 2024.
Capture Notes (6Dec2024): This was a re-run of the 4 December 2024 imaging session with the only variable changed being the control laptop – to point an accusatory finger at DSO CTRL2 in the unplanned power down issue I’d been experiencing throughout the week. So, I ran the exact same sequences with all the same peripherals. I also wrapped the DSO CTRL1 laptop in the same case and towel configuration, so as to not change any of the temperature variable. The only variable besides the laptop was the fact that I was not going to lay in bed stressing about the shutdown…I would go out during meridian flips and target swaps, but not check on the gear in-between (I wasn’t fully able to do that – but I did get much more sleep when I was in bed than on the night of 4 December!)
Sequence Plan (4Dec2024): Gain: 158, Temp: -0°C, offset=30. 90x5min. Total: 450 minutes (7:30hrs). Total capture time: 4Dec2024, 2144 – 5Dec2024, 0411MST. Images captured: 2144 – 2313MST (1:29hr) then shutdown, 0009 – 0236MST (2:27hr) then shutdown, and 0302 – 0401 (0:59hr) when I shut down the sequence
Sequence Plan (6Dec2024): Gain: 158, Temp: -0°C, offset=30. 124x3min. Total: 372 minutes (6:12hr). Total capture time: 6Dec2024, 2208 – 7Dec2024, 0510MST. Images captured throughout the night with a few minutes-long breaks (0006 – 0009, 0047 – 0056, 0254 – 0257, 0354 – 0357, 0454 – 0457) likely due to auto-focus set to run once per hour.
Processing: Captured in SGP, stacked as multi-session in APP (Adaptive Airy Disc), star removal with Starnet++, processing with LR/PS. Processed as a multi-session image with data from both the 4 Dec2024 and 6Dec2024 sequences.
I was very pleased with the dark skies image of M78, so hadn’t planned to process these data. But, as I was about to start the posting all the images I’d processed from early- and late-December onto the website on 6Jan2025, I decided I should spend the evening doing a “quick” processing of the 4&6Dec2024 M78 Casper data, for completeness. It was interesting that when I applied the APP star color correction tool to these stacked data, it produced a very blue nebula (usually it produces good looking stars, but an ugly brownish colored nebula. So, I decided that I would try processing the two “versions” of the data – the star color corrected and the LPro-filtered stack. I like this result – not quite as well as the dark skies version, but a darn good (and colorful) image captured from the front patio in our Bortle 6 skies!
Equipment
Equipment: All equipment controlled by HP Probook running Sequence Generator Pro v4.4.1.1441. DSO-CTRL2 (BB’s “old” laptop) on 4Dec2024. DSO-CTRL1 (SC’s laptop) on 6Dec2024.
- Imaging (ASI2400-BB-FF-LPro): ZWO ASI2400MC imaging camera on (Big Bertha) Orion 8″ f/8 Ritchey-Chretien Astrograph Telescope, Teleskop Service (TS) 2.5” Rack and Pinon Focuser M90, Teleskop Service Flattener 1.0x for RC Telescopes (TS-RCFLAT2), Optolong L-Pro LP filter
- Autofocuser: ZWO EAF Electronic Automatic Focuser (EAF-5V-STD)
- Mount: Rainbow Astro RST-300 (controlled by iHubo ASCOM driver)
- Polar alignment: QHYCCD camera (controlled by Polemaster for polar alignment)
- Autoguiding: Orion 60mm Multi-Use Guide Scope with Orion StarShoot AutoGuider Pro Mono Astrophotography Camera (controlled by PHD2)
Summary
Captured: 4&6 December 2024
Shooting location: HCH, Colorado Springs, Colorado
Equipment: Big Bertha on Rainbow Astro RST-300
Processing summary: Captured in SGP, stacked in APP (Adaptive Airy), star color correction in APP produced a “blue” nebula and a “red” nebula that were combined in PS, star removal with Starnet++ (used color-corrected stars), processing with LR/PS