Helix with Bert's lens

[tornado33]

Howdy
I turned Bert's 300mmF2.8 lens onto the Helix Nebula thismorning.
9 x 5 mins ISO 400, UHCS and UV/IR filters installed in back of the lens. Weather was rather horrible, with broken cloud, conditions not that dark, having to dodge cloud between exposures. Manually guided with a cheap catadioptric 3 inch "focal" brand scope that was an ex Halleys Comet special, attached to my mount alongside Bert's lens.

I used the masking technique to bring out the faint outer detail. I want to go deeper next time if I can.
Scott

[ving (David)]

never actually see such a wide field helix before... its really quite interesting

thnx scott

[h0ughy (David)]

simply fantastic Scott, might do the same trick and call in again!

[avandonk]

Is that the full frame Scott? Just shows you can't beat big aperture and small F number if the optics are good. I have never seen it in such a wide field either. Looks more lonely this way. The outer neb detail should definitely appear with more exposure.
Very nice, I never realized how big this PN was.

Bert

[iceman (Mike)]

Nice!

[astroboy]

Nice one Scott
Like the colour of the central portion of the neb , a "red eye" in the sky.

Zane

[Lester]

Very nice Scott.

Be interesting to see if the deeper shot reveals anymore nebula.

[tornado33]

Thanks all
yep thats full frame. I "dithered" each frame, that is, moved the lens slightly so that each exposure would be slightly offset. When alinging and stacking, this helps smooth out the noise a bit, as each spot of sky would be imaged by different sensor pixels each time. Darn the weather, I want to try and go a full 2 hours on the Helix.
Scott

[EzyStyles (Eric)]

very nice scott. even with that image scale you can still see the faint red banding . well done.

[Striker (Tony)]

I like this widefield Scott...shows lots of depth for just 4 minutes but like Bert said.....F2.8 boy thats quick.

Still love your Helix with the 10"...thats a cracker.

[tornado33]

Thanks all
Id never have a chance of going that deep without the modded camera, wait till you get your new scope, Tony u will love it