M27 - Dumbbell Nebula LRGB 02/08/08

[Whippy]

Blimey, this took a bit of effort! Originally, the plan was to give my Celestron C8N a good test run and try and get some colour shots but after much head scratching, it turns out that there isn't enough in-travel on the focuser to accomodate both the filter wheel and camera so I decided to do a mono image of NGC 6946 but the GOTO wouldn't erm, goto and I trod on some cables and I decided that a graceful retreat was in order. I'll come back to that later... Took the C8N off and loaded on the old faithful ZS110 for some fun. I then thought 'lets have a go at M27' and off we went. Lovely night considering that the metoffice was saying otherwise (no change there then...) and eventually hauled myself off to bed at some point..

So I've spent virtually the entire day trying to remember how to process the colour data (only did it once before) with no luck at all until SteveL inadvertently gave the idea to make it work, cheers mate . My brain is completly frazzled!

Anyway, M27 taken with an Atik 16HR, Baader RGB, IR cut and IDAS filters through a WO ZS110. Guided by a WO ZS66, QHY5 and PHD all sitting atop an EQ6 Pro.

Luminence = 60 mins (10 x 6 mins), Red and Green = 15 mins each (5 x 3 mins) and Blue = 21 mins (7 x 3 mins). Total exposure time 1hr 51 mins. Processed in DSS and Photoshop.

Enjoy . Looks like my first RGB process from back in May was done wrongly so I guess I'd better go and do that...

(click to enlarge)

Tony..

[steppenwolf]

Nice one, Tony - good colour and detail and some good shaped stars.

[MikeP]

Who needs a C8N when you can get shots like that with your ZS110. Hope you didn't do any damage with your inadvertent cable adjustments.

Mike

[Dippus]

WOW . Definately worth all the stress.

Mark

[Paxo]

Well done Tony, well worth the hassle eh!

Steve..

[SteveL]

Nice job sir!

[RobH]

Nice work Tony

Cheers

Rob

[barkis]

I envisage myself following your route Tony. Probably exactly, but If it turns out like this I will be more than satisfied. You have arrived in colour mate, and the best is, the worst is over, because you now know you have the tools and they work.

A good job, now go have a good sup.

Ron.

[MartinB]

Streuth Tony, you're coming on in leaps and bounds. Great colour and a cracking M27. Well done

[Beyond_Vision]

Streuth Tony, you're coming on in leaps and bounds. Great colour and a cracking M27. Well done

I second that, an excellent capture and very well processed Tony.

Regards

Kevin

[Whippy]

Thanks all , I pretty chuffed with it considering it was an 'off the cuff' image. I think I'll be sticking with the 110 for now as it's just a no stress setup. Honestly, from taking down the C8N to actually aquiring data took about 15 minutes!

Tony..

[markcol]

That's a belter, Tony!

Mark

[SteelRat]

Really liking that Dumbbell Tony 8) Lovely stuff from the 110

[CELESCOPE]

Spot on Tony , that is a very good image indeed mate , and a huge well done on the colour processing , a truely awesome image mate .

Rog

[Jeff RV]

One to be extremely proud of Tony, Very nice!!

Jeff.