Helix Nebula NGC7293
06-Oct-2015
The Helix Nebula, also known as The Helix, NGC 7293, is a large planetary nebula located in the constellation Aquarius, 695 light years away.
Image:
- 22x 4 minute Red bin2x2 + 12x Flats + 40x Dark + 120x Bias
- 17x 4 minute Green bin2x2 + 12x Flats + 40x Dark + 120x Bias
- 16x 4 minute Blue bin2x2 + 12x Flats + 40x Dark + 120x Bias
- 27x 8 minute Luminance bin1x1 + 16x Flats + 40x Dark + 120x Bias
Total integration: 7h 16m over two nights
Hardware:
- Celestron EdgeHD 1100 with CGEM DX mount
- Celestron 0.7x EdgeHD focal reducer
- QSI 683-wsg Camera @ -15°C
- Orion StarShoot Autoguider
Location:
- Orange zone near Brisbane, Australia.
- Good seeing + last quarter moon phase.
Software:
- Captured with AstroArt 5
- Guiding with PHD2 + PHD_Dither
- CCDStack 2+: Calibrate, align, stack, upscale & combine RGB, levels on Luminance.
- Photoshop CC: levels, combine RGB+luminance, selective noise reduction, shrink stars, shadows/highlights/high pass filter/contrast
- CCDStack 2+: Remove gradient