The Lion Nebula & the Helix nebula.

[tich]

Hi everyone I managed a couple of nights imaging these targets although the Helix is definitely a challenge at 17 degrees, firstly here's the Lion Nebula my other half suggested I go for this target & it was a very tight fit in the camera so I manually rotated it to make it fit, it probably could have done being a mosaic but I've not tried that yet so it's something I need to learn at some point although setting up a sequence in NINA seems pretty straight forward. 
More data needed as this is just 4 hours 3 minutes worth of data.



Now for the Helix nebula, this is a target I've wanted to capture since I started this hobby but I've never had any luck as it's always to low & when I tried at a dark site I were just using a modded DSLR with no filter & was getting nothing. We did go away a couple of weeks ago in Cornwall hoping to get it from there but the pitch we were promised & the pitch we were given soon scuppered that plan. So I tried from home in the observatory I attempted it last year but the pier were to short so I added a Skywatcher pier extension to it & tried again a couple of nights ago & I were surprised I were picking up anything. At 17 degrees it were low down in the murk & light pollution so I wasn't expecting much. After deleting a load of subs I only managed 2 hours 55 minutes worth of data collected over 2 nights & with shooting this target so low down in the murk it's not going to be the sharpest image either. Even so I'm happy to have got something from it & I really hope I can get more data to add to both of these targets.



Equipment used on both targets; RASA 11, Altair astro 269C OSC camera, IDAS NBZ filter on the AZ EQ6 GT mount.
 

[Raghav8055]

Great Work!!!
💫

[Shibby]

Excellent Lion - I remember that a lot of this nebula is very faint so you've got a great result for 4 hours. I suppose f/2.2 helps!

[Fegato]

Nice - I can really see the lion there, great detail!   I use a RASA 11 too - I'd say 4 hours is a lot for a single panel, even with the NBZ. That's equivalent to 16 hours at F/4.5 or 40 hours at F/7.  I'd have thought the law of diminishing returns kicks in from there, but having said that, I've not really shot any longer than that, so I suppose I can't be sure until I've tried!  

[powerlord]

nice helix - also one my list but can't even see it from my garden 😞

 

[Paul Holdsworth]

Beautiful image of the lion nebula 👍