The Helix Nebula (NGC 7293)
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: October 20th
2006
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 DSLRControl remote shutter software.
Filters: None
Conditions: Temp 54F, Humidity 40%, Winds 5-10 mph, 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. Slight wavelet filtering with Registax
3 as well as color balancing with histogram function. Final processing PhotoImpact Pro.
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