Helix Nebula

[Striker]

HI Guys,

Got my camera working properly last night and had to have a go at this months DSO challenge.

The flat field did not work to well so I will have to work on that one again.

20 x 4 minute autoguided exposure's at ISO800 on the 10" LX200R at F8

Cooled modded Canon 350D.
Ambient was 15°c
Relative Humidity 80%
CMOS temp 4°c was set to its warmest possible temperture..this is done by the way of slowing down the fan making cooling less efficent...I was worried if I turned the fan up to max then it would have easily gone below -5°c...I dont want that condensation again.

Pretty happy with the results.
Hope you like.

[Dennis]

You have transformed an object of interest into an object of beauty. Congratulations on getting everything up and running - a superb image and yes, I like very much.

Cheers

Dennis

[Lester]

Hi Tony,

very nice indeed. Is the red at the bottom right corner, some of the outer of the Helix? Looks reasonably bright.

[Striker]

No lester...that's from the camera and should not be there but thanks for pointing it out..lol

The outer neb can be seen faintly lower left but due to my poor efforts with flats I had to darken the image too much reducing the small but visible signs of the outer ring.

[Starkler]

Wow Tony I love the amount of detail on the inside :eyepop:

Whats with the diffraction spikes? If you like them you should have got a newtonian :lol:

[[1ponders]]

Nice one Tony :thumbsup:, the outer loops are pretty clear on my LT screen, but I maybe my screen settings are burning out the section of the ring from 2-3 oclock.

[RB]

Beautiful image Tony.
The camera is very interesting, I can't wait to see more.

What did you use for the diffraction spikes?

[[1ponders]]

;) Tried to talk him into it one day Geoff, but he's a SCT man to the core. That is until someone makes a 10" Tak refractor :lol:

[Striker]

Thanks guys.

Lol @ Geoff.....I do like defraction spikes.

The defraction spikes are software enhanced...so no fishing line or string used.

Paul I know what you mean rearding burning out..I can see this on my observatory LCD screen but not on my CRT monitor where I do all my processing.

Give me a newtonian with a focal length of 2500mm that will fit on my G11 and I would......lol

[davidpretorius]

u bet!

congrats on a beauty

[seeker372011]

suppose the diffraction spikes are put in using "Astronomy Tools "?

do you have a full res version somewhere? Looks to me like the image could stand up to inspection at higher res

[Starkler]

That looked quite obvious to me, and I hope you dont mind the criticism that IMO it doesnt look natural :shrug:

[Striker]

Correct astronomy tools in photoshopCS2

Here is a full rez.....warning 1mb 3500 x 2300 rez
http://www.users.on.net/~striker/Helixfull.jpg

Thats cool Geoff...but you can say all defraction spikes dont look natural.

[h0ughy]

OMG, tony that is simply beautiful. Well done and congrats on working out the camera. Is there any way some dessecant bags could be introduced to help reduce the humidity, or go bush! That is an amazing image mate, going for a malin award next year Eh!:thumbsup: :eyepop: :eyepop:

[iceman]

I prefer the fishing line spikes to these artificial ones. I usually love them.

Beautiful image, Tony.

[richardo]

Nice image there Tony.:thumbsup:
I've used the Noels Astro Tools spikes before in PScs(presume that's what you used) if only to clean up bad tracking on my reflector before. One thing that's good about Noels actions is that you can tone done the thickness and extent of the spikes so they don't look too un-natural from within the action itself.
It's quite tweakable if you have a mess.
Perhaps these detract a little from the image a bit.
Humbley, JIMO of course.:rolleyes:
Imaging gives us all an artistic license so it's a personal thing.

Thanks for sharing your efforts.

Cheers
Rich

[avandonk]

Very good result Tony. How do you take your flats? I now always point the lens or telescope to the zenith of a twilight sky when taking flats. Make sure the Sun is below the horizon and there are no thin clouds. I have found any where else that the sky has gradients which show up even worse with wide lenses. This makes the flats almost useless.

Get rid of the ersatz linear diffraction artefacts and it will be even better.
This cooling mod looks extremely worthwhile.

Bert

[seeker372011]

very impressive amount of detail at full res

[Striker]

Thanks guys,

I will sit on the fence regarding the spikes....I kind of like them but everyone to their own...saying this I will probably not use them again...or maybe I will...lol.
I bet if I didn't tell you all they were fake knowone would have known.....alot of people use a single defraction spike(string) then add the extra spike in photoshop with similar results.

Bert I did the flats this morning before the sun come up but it was cloudy...will do some more tonight when the sun goes down.

[gbeal]

Stunning Tony, that will make the pain of the camera cost all worthwhile no doubt, Beautiful, simply beautiful.
I can do without the spikes, but that is me.
Gary

[Striker]

It's not looking too good for the spikes...poor spikes...made an entrance then dumped....I cant help but feel sorry for the spikes.....used then threatened then dumped...lol

Thanks guys...your comments are much appreciated....if I get time I may do HA shot of the Helix and bring out more of the outer nebula.

[matt]

It's a great image Tony:thumbsup:

The detail in the neb is stunning.

It appears the jury has spoken re: spikes, and I sadly have to agree.

Although.... they might not look quite as obvious if they were a little thinner and shorter?

However, given the fantastic quality of your image, I'd dispense with them altogether:)

[CometGuy]

Tony,

Thats a superb shot - no darks!

I noticed the dew point last night was much lower (around midnight) so condensation was a lot less likely to occur - at least on the outside of the glass.

I'll post a quick analysis of the dark frames later today.

Terry

[Octane]

Tony,

I'm lost for superlatives.

All I can say is that that is breathtaking.

Congratulations.

Regards,
Humayun

[EzyStyles]

:eyepop: :eyepop: great shot Tony. I know how badly you wanted to capture this object and you have done so beautifully. well done mate. In regards to the spikes, try gausian blur on them.

[Lee]

Hubblesque! Really nice work - I like the spikes..... do prefer the thinner fishing line ones though.....

[Striker]

Ok I get it...spikes have been trashed permamantly.

Thanks guys....MY HA image of this target is not looking for tonight..it's all set up but the clouds have come over....shew clouds.

[Lester]

On the very deep images of the Helix like yours Tony, I look for the very small and faint galaxy at about 11 o'clock in the main red area. Do you or anyone know what the magnitude of this galaxy is?

[EzyStyles]

i know the galaxy you are talking about lester. it is in the outer band of the helix

[Lester]

PS by the way I think the spikes really add character to the shot. You do what you like.

[Lester]

Hi Eric, its visible in Tony's shot. Its in the main red band, so I would say the inner red band.

[EzyStyles]

circled in red. forgot to ask tony, any filters used for this shot?

[sheeny]

Woe!:eyepop: What a shot!

Good work Striker!

Al.

[Striker]

Thats it Eric.....

I cant find what the galaxy is called or any kind of information towards this galaxy.

Oops yes I forgot I did use the UHC-S filter....my mistake.

[Lester]

Yes Eric, thats the galaxy. First time I ever saw it was years ago on an image taken with the Palomar 200", now amateurs are able to capture it.

Well done again Tony.

[tornado33]

Im just back from a trip away, looks like some great imaging has been going on. A very detailed image there. One can see the cometary globule like objects in the inner parts being blown back by the hot stellar wind from the central star.
Is this your camera?
http://www.centralds.net/en/index.htm
With the condensation, is it on the front or rear(inside) of the cover glass. If inside then perhaps some sort of modification could be made like the SBIG cameras that use a small dessicant plug that is exposed to the air inside, sucking out the moisture allowing temps well below zero without frosting. When the plug loses its effectiveless, it is baked in an oven to drive out the moisture.
Scott

[alandee]

Spikes Shmikes .. tomatoe tomato .. the depth and clarity of your image is excellent. A beautiful capture, well done.

[Striker]

Thats the camera scott.

And it looks to the front of the internal filter.

I was thinking possibly a eyepiece dew heater around the EOS adapter may warm it up enough to reduce the dew point..

I am not that concerned with this yet..it has only happened once and when I was imaging in virtualy the same conditions the next night their was no sign of any dew.

[tornado33]

Yes it probably depends on the relative humidity of the night, a cold dry night with offshore winds you could probably go full speed on the cooling fan and not get condensation.
Some of the SBIG cameras had dewing issues, and they came up with installing small heaters round the outside of the sensor, just to warm up the exterior a few degrees to address dewing in warm humid nights. see
http://www.sbig.com/sbwhtmls/stl_heaters.htm