NGC 281
The Pac-man Nebula

Combination of 20, 3 minute images using red.green and blue filters.
SBIG ST8XE CCD camera. 5" f/5 refractor at prime focus.

NGC 281 is a rather faint emission nebula in Cassiopeia, situated about 3 degrees east of the bright star alpha cassiopeiae. It is seen with some difficulty in a 10" telescope.

The same set of images as the above but combined with 30, 3 minute images using an H-alpha filter for the luminance layer.

Combination of 15, 3 minute images each with red.green and blue filters.
SBIG ST8XE CCD camera. 5" f/5 refractor at prime focus.

Combination of 10 5-minute images with an H-alpha, SII and OIII filters. Processed using the European Southern Observatory palette.
SBIG STL-1001E CCD. 5" f/5 refractor at prime focus.

The above image was processed using the H-alpha images as the red channel. This is the preferred palette of the European Southern Observatory. The HST observers prefer to use the SII images as the red channel since the SII line is at a slightly longer wavelength than the H-alpha line. This results in a more green-dominated image as shown below.

The same image as above, but processed using the HST palette.