The Soul Nebula in SHO — 22 Hours from Bortle 8

I just wrapped up processing a new deep image of the Soul Nebula (IC 1848), and this one put up a real fight thanks to the heavy light pollution here in Davie, Florida. Bortle 8 isn’t exactly friendly territory for narrowband work, but 22 hours of data goes a long way toward punching through the glow.

A Look at the Target

The Soul Nebula sits about 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia, paired with its more famous neighbor, the Heart Nebula. It’s a massive star-forming complex loaded with emission from ionized hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen—perfect for narrowband imaging.

Several open clusters live inside the nebula, including IC 1848 itself. Their young, hot stars are blasting out radiation that sculpts the gas and drives the iconic shapes across the region. The “pillars” on the right side of the frame are shock fronts, where strong stellar winds meet dense pockets of gas. On the left, Bok globules mark areas where future stars may already be forming behind the dust.

Acquisition Details

• Date: November 19, 2024

• Location: Davie, Florida — Bortle 8 skies

• Telescope: CarbonStar 6" Newtonian with reducer

• Camera: ZWO 2600 monu dou

• Filters: Hα, SII, OIII

• Exposure: 3-minute subframes in all channels

• Total Integration Time: 22 hours

• Processing: PixInsight for the heavy lifting, Photoshop for the final polish

• Palette: SHO (Hubble color palette)

Processing Notes

With this much narrowband data, the SHO mapping came together smoothly. Hα anchored the structure, OIII gave the interior that strong blue glow characteristic of the Soul, and SII filled in the warmer outer regions. Working in PixInsight, I leaned on noise-reduction early to help the Bortle 8 gradients settle down, then pushed the contrast to bring forward the filaments, ridges, and pillars. Photoshop handled the finishing touches—color balancing, selective sharpening, and a bit of star control.

Final Thoughts

Even under heavy suburban skies, the Soul Nebula delivers a ton of detail when you give it enough time. The structures buried in this region are incredible, and SHO really shows off the complexity of the gas. This one was worth every minute of integration and every hour spent processing.