M27 Dumbell Nebula

justin8571 (Justin) · #1 13-07-2009, 03:43 AM

Hello everyone,

just thought I'd share my first colour deep sky image with you. I'm from East Sussex in England and bought my first scope (8" LX200R) two years ago. I'm so pleased with the outcome as once I got my head round processing colours (with a bit of help over the phone) it didn't take very long at all until the image just popped out. I took a total 42 one minute images, eight each of red, green and blue, and 18 of luminance.

It was imaged with my 8"LX200R at f/10, an Atik 314L camera and guided with a William Optics ZS66 at f/5.9 (and Meade DSI II) piggybacked on the LX with PHD Guiding. Aligned, stacked and processed with Nebulosity2.

I've taken a number of black and white deep sky images but this was my first attempt of an LRGB image having recently taken delivery of the new Starlight Xpress filter wheel and I also used my existing Meade filters. The filter wheel is a really well made piece of kit in case anyone's thinking of getting one.

It's meant to be clear tonight and I don't start work until tomorrow afternoon so hopefully I'll be outside in a few hours.

Anyway, thanks for looking and take care.

Justin

www.sussexastroimaging.co.uk

Hagar (Doug) · #2 13-07-2009, 06:27 AM

Nice image with a lot of detail Justin but I think it would benifit from quite a bit more exposure to lower the grain a little.
Great first venture into LRGB. It isn't as simple as it seems.

Well done.

Alchemy (Clive) · #3 13-07-2009, 06:28 AM

thanks for sharing your first color image

cheers clive

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #4 13-07-2009, 10:02 AM

You are so lucky to have M27 so high in the sky.
Congratulations on the pic too. LRGB is not the easiest method to learn. Looking forward to your next image.

justin8571 (Justin) · #5 14-07-2009, 10:45 PM

Thanks for the kind words everyone.

I tried again the other night with M57 and I can't seem to get the processing right with Nebulosity2. I'm sure my raw data's ok, it's just that I obviously don't know enough about processing. I'll have another try at processing it again tomorrow and see what happens. I think my M27 image is a perfect example of beginner's luck!

Thanks for the advice Hagar, I'll try M27 again with longer exposures as I wasn't sure why the image was a little grainy, I've clearly got plenty to learn. Thanks again.

Justin

www.sussexastroimaging.co.uk (don't forget to say hi in the guest book, it's always nice to know people have visited and where they're from)