Helix Neb

rogerg (Roger) · #1 12-10-2008, 02:21 PM

G'day all,

It's exceedingly rare that I post deep space shots these days. This is a lazy image from the other day when I used the observatory for the first time in ages, primarily to check it's all still running, and "testing the water" for doing some more astronomy.

I had autoguiding working but not active for this image. Couldn't find a darn guide star. So it's un-guided, hence there's some star trailing.

Manual "yeah, looks alright" colour calibration.

Auto dark subtraction was used, accidentily. Oops. So no bias or flats

Nice to have some colour coming from the scope again

Very blue star in the centre!

Roger.

AlexN · #2 12-10-2008, 03:04 PM

Wow thats a narrow field of view! You should line up some clear weather for a mosaic!

winensky · #3 13-10-2008, 12:35 AM

Now Thats up close and personal. That star looks blue in most shots I see. Is it the core star ?

AlexN · #4 13-10-2008, 05:32 PM

the central star is responsible for the nebulosity around it.

bluescope · #5 13-10-2008, 05:59 PM

Shame you didn't have autoguiding Roger I think you would have got some nice detail on the inner parts of the ring ... if you know what I mean !

rogerg (Roger) · #6 13-10-2008, 06:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluescope

Shame you didn't have autoguiding Roger I think you would have got some nice detail on the inner parts of the ring ... if you know what I mean !

Yeah, agreed

It was quite frustrating that there was no guide star within range... or within range of any of the other 4 objects I tried before saying to myself "forget it, just go with the brightest and short exposures"

I know what would solve the problem... larger guide chip .. $$$

Ahh well, such is life

Hagar (Doug) · #7 14-10-2008, 06:34 PM

One very big Helix. Nice colour and lovely round stars. I would love to see this done as a mosaic showing the rest of this great nebula. The central stars have retained great colour.
Well done.

Bassnut (Fred) · #8 14-10-2008, 08:26 PM

Roger, oh yeah, close up on a dim object, youve got balls

.

Real hard, I like it.

rogerg (Roger) · #9 14-10-2008, 08:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bassnut

Roger, oh yeah, close up on a dim object, youve got balls

.

You are joking right?

One reason I almost didn't photograph the Helix is because it's so unusually bright for my choice of objects

But hey, I haven't done much for months so I'll let you off

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hagar

The central stars have retained great colour.

I was surprised to have so much colour in the stars, really surprised. Somehow as luck would have it they haven't ended up over exposed, very rare for my NABG camera

Thanks for all the responses everyone, much appreciated. I might try a Mosaic in the next new moon period, but don't hold your breath waiting

Bassnut (Fred) · #10 14-10-2008, 08:42 PM

OK, well, Ive only imaged Ha (for lum) on Helix, and its a pain. Like to see something of yours less "unusually bright" at that FL

.

BTW, what NABG cam is this taken with.

Bassnut (Fred) · #11 14-10-2008, 08:45 PM

Checked yr site (very smick) I guess the ST7.

rogerg (Roger) · #12 14-10-2008, 09:01 PM

You beat me to it

Yeap, ST7 - wishing it were an ST8.

(bigger guide chip if nothing else!)

The stuff I typically enjoy doing most is finding faint galaxy clusters and the like. Seeing what I can get out of mag 16 - mag 20 objects. But, while I say typically, I haven't done much for months, so ya know, these things come and go.

It is fun to do some brighter colour stuff now and then.

Focal length is a curse and a blessing. It obviously makes tracking and image quality somewhat of a challenge, but when things work, I just love the scale, getting those tiny faint galaxies to have some shape

strongmanmike (Michael) · #13 15-10-2008, 07:09 PM

On ya Roger

Ah huh! You are moving to the dark side, look out!...you may become a fully fledged astrophotographer...

Mike