VdB 15 is a faint reflection nebula in the constellation Camelopardalis. The core of the nebula resembles the well known Iris nebula for color and details.

The nebula extends next to a vast Ha region that can be partially seen in one corner of the frame in the typical Ha red emission color

The image is the result of 20.5 hours integration time in HaLRGB (9hrs L, 3hrs R/G/B each, 2.5hrs Ha) and required a careful post-processing to enhance the faint details.

High resolution here

Processing details

Pixinsight

  • Calibration, weighting, alignment, integration (drizzle integration vark 1.5), crop, Integer downsample 2x

LUM

  • EzDecon
  • EzDenoise
  • HT stretch
  • Enhance nebulosity
  • EZStarReduction
  • LHE
  • Blend with Ha details

RGB

  • ChannelCombination
  • Arcshinh + HT stretch
  • Blend with Ha
  • LRGB combination with LUM

Photoshop

  • Enhanced saturation and contrast
  • various curves, contrast and color adjustments with masks

Caprile Observatory

Caprile Astronomical Observatory, Astrophotography, located in Tuscany (Italy) countryside. A photographic journey across the marvels of the universe | Galaxy | Nebulae | Deep Sky Objects