The big eye in the sky

[Quatermass]

Great clear night last night so decided to get of my lazy backside and get out there to do some imaging and have a crack at the Helix Nebula. This was quite a challenge to get had to wait till gone midnight so it cleared the wretched trees at the bottom of my garden and then it was all systems go. Set up my trusty 200p and EQ5 mount with my canon 350d modded and my laptop with Backyard eos running on it to control focus and my camera I love BYEOS tis a great bit of software for a dyslexic like me.

Any way started off by getting a good focus and frame up then went for 20 mains subs of 60 seconds at iso of 1600 to get a feel for it. Next I took it up to 20 shots at 70 seconds then finished of with another 60 shots at iso of 800 and 80 seconds. Combined that with 60 darks flats and bias shots from my stock and pumped it all through deep sky stacker. Finished off in Photoshop with levels curves star adjustments layers colours adjustments and other good stuff to come up with the final image. Such a cool nebula felt like someone was watching me all night.

[andyo]

Thats a great capture Mark,ive not seen this one before.Agree about BYEOS its a great bit of software nice and straightforward to use

[Gina]

Beautiful Mark Eye-eye

[Quatermass]

Cheers Andy and Gina Im sure badgers could do a much better job with his ccd camera pushing the limits with my canon on this faint target but just love the way it looks like a big eye. Was thinking of using it to put together a face made from my images of nebula's but then I have yet to do the witches head nebula

[Daniel-K]

i think this is too low for me but great data for short subs

[Quatermass]

Yes Daniel it is pretty low just a tad higher then the Trifid Nebula and no where near as bright but its quite big and not hard to find really. Most of the good stuff for me has been low down in the south the last few months.

[Quatermass]

Monkeying around..

[tich]

That's a fantastic image I must have a look for that one myself.

[Chris]

uh!? am I the only one that can't see any image just text that reads "posted image"

I'm sure its a lovely image though QM:)

[Quatermass]

Thank you tich if you do go looking for it then get down to the 4th star in Aquarius called Skat you will see a nice triangle of star to the right of that and the Helix is not far from the point star in that triangle. Just take a look in Stellarium and then use your binoculars to get your bearing first. Its quite faint even on a dark night I could only find it by taking several shots with my canon to locate it 40 seconds ISO 1600 showed it up as a faint ring took a couple of nights to get to grips with it and it must be dark no moon about or it will be really hard to find. Hope you get a go at it great target and looks wonderful.

[Quatermass]

uh!? am I the only one that can't see any image just text that reads "posted image"

I'm sure its a lovely image though QM:)

Its there for me but if you still cant see it go here mate..

http://astrocasto.blogspot.co.uk/

[Chris]

ah ah!, I didn't think to look on your blog, thanks:) Wow! thats one big planetary nebula, really nicely imaged Mark, am I right in thinking this is much bigger than the ring? apparant size of course:) Looks like a great target apart from maybe its position like you say:D

Cheers

Chris

[Quatermass]

Yes Chris its quite low down as most nice targets are in the south but it is fairly large. In my 200p its about as big as the full moon. I tried imaging it a week ago but the moon put paid to that. Last night was really lovely and clear with no dew to contend with so I was able to get enough data for an image of it. I really wanted to capture this one to go with my others from the southern part of the sky. My next one will be the Seven Sisters done with my evostar ed80 so I can now fit it all in the frame.

[Chris]

Yes! bring on the blue reflection nebulae of the Seven Sisters:) I'm also looking forward to my second season on this one, also now armed with Apo:D

I'm glad your south sky is good, I'm trying not to be jeolous as my south sky is a great big vat of orange soup

[tich]

Thank you tich if you do go looking for it then get down to the 4th star in Aquarius called Skat you will see a nice triangle of star to the right of that and the Helix is not far from the point star in that triangle. Just take a look in Stellarium and then use your binoculars to get your bearing first. Its quite faint even on a dark night I could only find it by taking several shots with my canon to locate it 40 seconds ISO 1600 showed it up as a faint ring took a couple of nights to get to grips with it and it must be dark no moon about or it will be really hard to find. Hope you get a go at it great target and looks wonderful.

I've got a fairly clear view Southwards although LP may ruin it but I'll definitely look out for it. I just hope my erm lovely neighbours security light behaves!!!

I wont repeat what I said when that switched on!!!

[badgers]

Im sure badgers could do a much better job with his ccd camera pushing the limits with my canon.

Don't worry QM, I'll pay you a visit with the CCD soon

That's a lovely capture of the Helix, it would probably come up way too small on my scope

As always your colours are great, I was never able to get that right on my Canon.

[Quatermass]

I've got a fairly clear view Southwards although LP may ruin it but I'll definitely look out for it. I just hope my erm lovely neighbours security light behaves!!!

I wont repeat what I said when that switched on!!!

Try using a large fishing umbrella to block some of the light security lights are a great annoyance to us astrophotographers but it pays to have a chat with your neighbours if your going to do imaging mine will turn them off if they know I am out there now so its worth asking them.

[Quatermass]

Don't worry QM, I'll pay you a visit with the CCD soon

That's a lovely capture of the Helix, it would probably come up way too small on my scope

As always your colours are great, I was never able to get that right on my Canon.

WIth my colours badgers I find altering the saturation in deep sky stacker to about 16 really helps I also use layers and hide all layers to boost the colour with but shifting the saturation slider in deep sky stacker then saving it bring out the colours in faint nebula well. You should have a crack at this one if you have time its well worth it mate.

[tich]

Try using a large fishing umbrella to block some of the light security lights are a great annoyance to us astrophotographers but it pays to have a chat with your neighbours if your going to do imaging mine will turn them off if they know I am out there now so its worth asking them.

I think after our fall out earlier this year over her breaking my car window using a strimmer & then having to pay for it I don't think thats going to happen She's usually in bed by around 11:30 anyway so it's not to much of a biggie.

I have been thinking of ways to shroud it out though.

[Gina]

Lovely "Monkey Business" Mark - what a great collage! Have to admit I find the greater sensitivity of the 1100D a great advantage - I use 30s at ISO 6400 to find objects and frame them (sometimes 60s). Also, having a second one for widefield/finder use really helps. I have the finder camera aligned with the main scope so if I get the object in the centre of the finder image, I know it will be in the scope image.

A couple of nights ago when we had one of those very rare clear nights I used the second camera in it's widefield mode and used it for the Cygnus Loop in Ha. At the same time I used the scope camera to capture the Witch's Broom in full colour to add to my ongoing mosaic. I think one more pane should finish the mosaic. To be able to make double use of this very rare imaging time I think makes the purchase of the second 1100D (and NB clip filters) well worthwhile

[badgers]

I hadn't spotted the monkey business collage...

That is bleeping marvellous!

[Gina]

Yes, great isn't it

[Quatermass]

He he thought it would be fun to make a face using the eye of the Helix and my past images monkey nebula, Orion nebula, Veil horse head Helix nebula and saturn andromedia and needle galaxy. Dont know how it turned into a monkey

Would love to get another camera Gina but cant afford one yet. Hoping for a crack at the Seven sisters next or maybe a galaxy not sure

so many targets coming round again for a second try now spoiled for choice.

Sent from my GT-S5670 using Tapatalk 2

[Gina]

Yes, plenty of targets now we need some clear skies at night

[Andyfx]

Lovely image Quartermass, good stuff as always!