Description:The
Helix Nebula (also known as NGC 7293) is a planetary nebula about 650
light-years away in the constellation Aquarius. It is one of the
closest planetary nebulae to Earth. The Helix has often been
referred to as the Eye of God and also as the "Eye of Sauron" due to
its resemblance to said object in the "Lord of the Rings" movie.
This was shot during the fall trip to Fort McKavett
Texas where dark skies are the norm.
Photographic Details:
Date & Location: October 20th 2006, Fort Mckavett, Texas.
Scope: Obsession 20” f/5 on a Tom Osypowski Dual Axis Equatorial Platform, Orion 100mm f/6 Guidescope.
Autoguider: SC1 Mod Celestron Neximage Cam, Shoestring GPINT-PT guide port
interface adapter, and Guidemaster software
Camera: Canon 20D DSLR (non-modded), homemade serial control shutter release cable and DSLR shutter from Stark Labs.
Filters: None
Conditions: Temp 54F, Humidity 40%, Winds 5-10, Transparency 8/10, Seeing 7/10.
Exposures: 20 x 60sec @ 3200 ISO Sub Frames, 21 x 60sec Darks.
Post-processing:
3504x2336 Raw files converted to Lossless 16-bit FITS, calibrated,
aligned, and combined with ImagePlus software. Slight wavelet filtering with Registax 3.Final processing PhotoImpact Pro.
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