Saturn Nebula, NGC 7009, a Planetary Nebula in Aquarius.

[Dennis]

Hello,

Ever since seeing (Scott) Tornado33’s hi-res version here, I have been meaning to have a look at this little beauty.

So, here is another test image from my system tuning adventures, of the Saturn Nebula aka NGC 7009, a Planetary Nebula in Aquarius at magnitude 8.3, size 28" laying some 3200 light years away. The central star has a magnitude of 12.8.

Tak Mewlon 180 F12 with x0.8 Reducer giving F9.6 (1728mm), taken with an ST7.

This is a single 10 minute exposure. The cloud rolled in as I was taking Darks so unfortunately, that was the extent of my testing for the night. When the clouds rolled in, I spat the dummy and in a fit of pique, forgot to take Flats, so I’ve had to perform a heavy amount of (unsophisticated) post processing in an attempt to make up for the temper tantrum!

The good news is that I am now getting better stars with my side-by-side guiding set up, at least on this one example! LOL!

Cheers

Dennis

[seanliddelow (Sean)]

Good image!

[telecasterguru (Frank)]

That is a great image for a single 600 seconds. Sorry bout the clouds.

Frank

[Alchemy (Clive)]

it shows quite some structure, it will need a few more subs to give it a finished appearance at this point in time.



clive

[Lester]

Very good for one frame showing a lot of structured detail.

[Hagar (Doug)]

Lots of fine detail for a single, Well done.

[rat156]

That's a beauty Dennis.

Might have to have a crack at this one myself.

Cheers
Stuart

[Tamtarn]

That's an excellent result for one sub Dennis, look forward to the results when you can get a run at this object.
Good to hear your side by side set up is working out.

[Dennis]

Thank you Sean, Frank, Clive, Lester, Doug, Stuart and Barb & David, for your helpful comments, they are much appreciated and I enjoy reading them.

Like my most recent deep sky posts, these single frame (test) exposures have been part of a more consolidated effort my part, to chase down some auto guiding problems I have been experiencing with my side-by-side set up.

Stringing together a few nights in the same period has proven really useful in being able to review and consolidate any improvements from the previous session’s efforts.

Cheers

Dennis

[renormalised (Carl)]

Nice shot for one sub!!.

[Dennis]

Thanks Carl!

Cheers

Dennis

[Dennis]

I thought it might be of interest to post the single original raw frame as it appeared on the Notebook display in CCDSoft (camera control software) when the data 1st downloaded and displayed.

Looks quite a mess eh! CCDSoft automatically adjusts the brightness and contrast of the displayed image (background and range). In the example shown, the highest brightness value was over 47,500; the maximum is approx 56,000 (16 bit A to D converter).

Cheers

Dennis

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

What a little beauty!
It's looking very much like it's name sake at the moment.

[Octane (Humayun)]

Dennis,

Great detail you've managed to coax out of this fascinating object.

You should be proud!

Regards,
Humayun

[Dennis]

Thanks Jeanette and Humayun!

I am continuously astonished at how these raw ST7 images can be polished to reveal the data lurking in their 16 bit mono images. I’m still grappling with some of the concepts of quantum efficiency, bit depth and dynamic range and hopefully, it will all sink in one day!

Cheers

Dennis