HELIX from 01-07-08

[bluescope]

Hi All

Took this image a week or so ago and only just got around to processing. Probably could be done a bit better ... had good data ( although stars a bit eggy ) ... very cold, clear, moonless night ... my nose nearly froze in my observatory. Hope you like it ... I also got data on ngc253 ... will post later when finished.

Details :

18x360 sec @ -17 ... Total 1 hour 48 mins
SW 254mm F4.7 Newt
SBIG ST2000XCM self guided in CCDOPS
EQ6 Pro
Baader MPCC, Baader UV/IR, IDAS LPS2

:thumbsup:

p.s. Wanted to get 2 hours straight but guiding went to crapp for some reason ... maybe heavy dew ... I don't know ... weird.

[Bassnut]

Nice one Steve, for the sub exposure times. I found this one dim and had to expose for 10min at least . If you can, go to 20min/sub with the ST2000XCM

[Ric]

A nice capture Steve, the outer ring is coming out very nicely and showing the faint details.

Cheers

[bluescope]

I haven't gone more than 6-7 minutes so far. I think I would need to have better polar alignment. I might give it a shot when I next venture outback. Won't be for a while coz our forecast is not good 'till next week at least.

Cheers Fred !

:thumbsup:

[bluescope]

Thanks Ric, there's even a slight hint of the tail. I could see it quite clear when layering the image but overall brightness had to be too high to bring it out for final version. I may still have another go at the data on this though.

:thumbsup:

[jase]

Good work Steve. Fred's words of wisdom to let the pixel wells bleed is a good one (for ABG anyway). If you can go long, you'll get impressive results considering the response from a CCD is linear.

[bluescope]

Thanks Jase, glad you like it !
Will try longer .... but I think I'll buy a balaclava for my nose first :lol:

:thumbsup: