Helix in Ha- very WIP

[Lognic04]

Hi all,
This is my helix, 10 hours so far! as you can see, very noisy! So, i decided i needed to up the exposures from 2m and me and a friend from the asv decided 8m. Sound about right?
Gear is the usual :D (see signature!)
Video is being made about this too :)
2 mins exposures, HA, 139 gain, 10 hours.
Thanks sidereal trading and gofundme donators!!! :thumbsup:

[cometcatcher]

Looks good so far. :thumbsup:

[Lognic04]

Thanks!

[Slawomir]

A good start Logan :thumbsup:

IMHO a tough object to image well. In the faint outer regions in my recent attempt at the Helix I measured that my telescope/camera was recording about one photon per pixel per hour. I might be wrong, but I feel that with 2 minute subs this faint signal may get lost if rejection algorithm will be used during stacking. I have no experience with using CMOS, but it makes sense to me to try much longer exposures, as you have mentioned.

Here (Image B) is a simple histogram stretch of 10 hours made of 15-minute subs (CCD) of Helix captured with a 105mm telescope: https://www.astrobin.com/359357/B/?nc=user

[RickS]

Looks good, Logan! I agree that your subs seem too short for narrow band with that set up, at least if you want optimal results!

Cheers,
Rick.

[Lognic04]

I think you are right Suavi :)
I can also see that both our 10 hour images seem to show the same amount, so maybe I just need to bump up exposure time. I think the bit extra of the chevron you got (it shows in my pic!) Maybe is from the darker skies.