About
this Object M97, or the Owl Nebula is the reminants of a star which ejected its outer shell of gass roughly 6,000 yrs ago. Additional information about the Owl Nebula can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owl_Nebula This image is a false color composite made from Hydrogen Alpha (Ha), Sulpher II (SII), and (OIII) Oxygen III filtered images. Ha and SII were combined for the red channel, a mix of Ha and OIII for the green channel and OIII for the blue channel. Interestingly there is a faint outershell of OIII emission eminating from the main part of the nebula which is elongated to the south and west. M97 shines very bright in OIII light as can be seen from the general bluish cast. Areas of red Ha and SII emission can be seen near the top and around the edges of the nebula. The cenral core of the nebula is very bright so the HDR wavelet transform of PixInsight Standard was used to enhance details within the core.
