Small Planetary Nebulae - Cat's Eye and Blue Snowball

[vincentnm]

Dear All,

Imaged these unguided on 12th October with Celestron 9.25, modded Canon 350D, CLS filter.

These are really tiny targets. They were no larger than bloated stars when the entire image was viewed fitted-to-screen.

Blue Snowball nebula - 10s X 87 Subs @ 800 ISO

Cat's eye nebula - 5s X 112 Subs @ 800 ISO

Tried to stack in DSS, but it turned out to be a disaster. Gave a shot at Registax and it worked like a dream. Registax more suitable for smaller objects? / Lesser stars?

Histogram streach in PS.

Full moon on the other side of the sky. Did not create too much of a problem since these nebulae are inherently bright objects. Does the CLS help to filter moonlight or just city lights?

Thanks,

Vincent.

[Psychobilly]

Hi Vincent,

Nice images

DSS likes a few more stars.. which really needs longer subs..

Billy...

[LostNSpace]

Nice couple of images Vincent

Mark

[thing]

Very nice Vincent. I've never thought of stacking subs in Registax. Mind you, you had a lot to go at! I've been put off imaging those small nebs because of their size but you have done a good job there. I might give them a go.

[johnh]

Those 2 planetaries are tiny little beggars less than 20" each - to catch them at all with any detail is an achievement.

Super.

[barkis]

I agree, you did a good job getting so much detail on these two Minnows Vincent.

Difficult targets they are. Well done I say.

Ron.

[Sam]

They are both very nice images of two very tricky little nebs. I guess the processing of them is a bit planetary like so Registax was probably the best choice - well done.

Sam

[Doc]

Both great images.

I saw this blue Snowbell through my 16" dob and it looked exactly like that.

Nice one.

[MartinB]

Well done Vincent, you've pulled out some good detail on the little fuzzies

[legion48]

Blimey! Five and ten second subs only? :shock: Well done.

[MrEd]

Vincent these gems are so overlooked by imagers....

Its so nice to see such great captures.

Good colour and deatil too.

Ed

[vincentnm]

Thanks for your comments guys! I will be attempting these targets again after collimating my 9.25. Will post if I better these shots.

Thanks,

Vincent.

[darditti]

"Does the CLS help to filter moonlight or just city lights?"

It does help with moonlight when imaging emission nebulae like these, as moonlight is a reflected solar continuum, so is relatively suppressed by the CLS as against the emission lines (mainly OIII and H alpha) which it is designed to transmit. Other LPR filters are similar. I had good results with the Orion Skyglow filter last night on M42 in a very moonlit sky.

Excellent work on these tiny objects.

David