The Helix Nebula (1 hour 48 mins exp)

EzyStyles (Eric) · #1 26-07-2006, 03:29 AM

Hi Guys,

This is probably the longest exposure time i have ever done . A total of 1 hour and 48 minutes. I was very impressed on how it turned out in the end which makes this the best Helix i have ever done. The red banding on the bottom right is evident. Guiding was spot on.Consist of 27 x 4 minutes exposure stacked in Registax. Processed in photoshop CS2.

Comments welcome cheers.

Astroman (Andrew Wall) · #2 26-07-2006, 01:25 PM

WOW!! excellent work Eric. Has anyone come up with something to stop the bloating on the DSI yet? its the only thing letting it down I think. The Neb is EXCELLENT!!!

h0ughy (David) · #3 26-07-2006, 04:19 PM

Fantastic!!!!!!!!! enter that one in next years Malin awards

tornado33 · #4 26-07-2006, 04:44 PM

VERY nice, I can see the Northeast Arc, the faint outer area along the very bottom and lower right side of image. Great to see such a nice long total exposure.
Scott

Lester · #5 26-07-2006, 04:47 PM

Yep Eric,

that is a beauty.

asimov (John) · #6 26-07-2006, 04:54 PM

Great job Eric!

RB (Andrew) · #7 26-07-2006, 05:02 PM

sheeny (Al) · #8 26-07-2006, 05:22 PM

Very nice Ezy!

Veeerrryyy Nice!!!

Al.

iceman (Mike) · #9 26-07-2006, 06:17 PM

Wow, awesome! One of your best Ezy.

Striker (Tony) · #10 26-07-2006, 06:31 PM

top stuff Eric...keep them coming.

RAJAH235 · #11 26-07-2006, 07:09 PM

Eric. What can one say but, simply stunning.

L.

JohnH · #12 26-07-2006, 08:28 PM

That is Very Very good! You must be happy with that one, sharp focus, great tracking...colours, detail. BTW do you use drizzle at all?

acropolite (Phil) · #13 26-07-2006, 10:15 PM

Excellent work Eric

EzyStyles (Eric) · #14 27-07-2006, 12:25 AM

thanks guys. really appreciated. glad you guys like it.

Astroman, the IR Filter which came with the DSI suppose to minimise the star bloat slightly. That was removed due false colours and it seems to bring out more details without it.

I havent tried drizzling yet John. just started out the autoguiding feature and telescope control within the envisage software. Will learn that next

. noo way that can be entered in the dave malin awards houghy. I'm scared people will laugh

cheers once again guys.

h0ughy (David) · #15 27-07-2006, 09:51 PM

I was serious Eric. Its excellent work from that camera. You should be proud of that achievement

davidpretorius · #16 27-07-2006, 11:06 PM

that is absolutely fantastic!

so not undersell yourself eric, you are up in the big time now. You are squeezing as good an image of a meade that i have seen anywhere, that includes the as&t mags!!!

EzyStyles (Eric) · #17 29-07-2006, 03:35 AM

cheers guys. thanks for your kind words.

Itchy · #18 29-07-2006, 07:58 AM

The guys are right Eric.
It is certainly up to standard. Not only is it your best Helix, I think it's your best image yet, and the best DSI image I have seen.

Now that you are using 4 min subs, your images will only get better. You are also finding out that 1 night= 1 image is worth it.

Cheers

IanW · #19 31-07-2006, 08:37 PM

Very nice image!

One small thing though, the exposure time you quote is somewhat misleading as it is an equivalent value when stacking images, so your 27 x 4 minute exposures are equivalent to a 108 minute single exposure. There's a big difference as short exposures are far easier to make than long exposures as the longer the exposure the more prone the shot is to a variety of disasters in the making eg: wind gusts, bumping the scope etc.

seeker372011 (Narayan) · #20 31-07-2006, 08:46 PM

very very nice shot Eric

way to go