Witch’s Broom Nebula (NGC 6960)

Witch’s Broom Nebula (NGC 6960)

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Photographer: Macastronomer

Imaging type: Deep Sky

Object type: Nebula

Astronomical target

Target name
Witch's Broom Nebula
Catalog designation
NGC 6960
Right ascension (HH:MM:SS)
20:45:38
Declination (±DD:MM:SS)
+30:42:30

Acquisition

Acquisition start date
2026-09-13
Acquisition end date
2026-09-14
General location (public)
Lanesboro, MN
Additional notes
First Light for my Askar FRA300 from about 11:07PM to 2:56AM. Some time spent between filters, some images tossed, may have stopped for wispy clouds to pass a couple times.

Copyright and license

Copyright holder
Free to use
License
No license required
Rights notes
Use at will.

Optics

Telescope or lens
Quintuplet ED Refracter
Optics manufacturer
Askar
Optics model
FRA300
Aperture (mm)
60
Effective focal length (mm)
300
Effective focal ratio
5
Reducer
none
Flattener
none
Barlow or focal extender
none
Other optical accessories
Askar filter drawer, UV/IR cut filter, Optolong eXtreme and Optolong Synergy

Camera

Camera manufacturer
Pegasus
Camera model
SmartEye
Camera type
Astronomy
Gain
125
Offset
0
Sensor temperature (°C)
0
Binning
0

Mount and guiding

Mount or tracker
SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro
Guiding camera
none
Guide scope or OAG
none
Guiding software
none

Conditions

Bortle class
4
Seeing
Great
Transparency
fair
Moon illumination (%)
7
Moon phase
Waxing Crescent
Conditions notes
It was a Glorious Night for Astronomy

Calibration

Dark frames
1
Flat frames
0
Bias frames
0
Dark flats
0

Processing

Processing software
Siril
Processing notes
Stack and Align, stretch and export in Photoshop

Wester Veil Nebula (Witch’s Broom Nebula NGC 6960)
Taken with Pegasus SmartEye camera, 15 second subs through 3 filters (167—IR/UV, 296—Optolong extreme, 184—Optolong Synergy). Stacked and aligned in Siril, stretched and converted to 16 bit TIF in Photoshop, exported to 8big JPG in Photoshop.