The Eskimo Nebula

[qcdougn]

Sorry to be dragging out old photos...But, I have a little time to go through my stack of forgotten pics. Here's my first go at The Eskimo last winter. Taken with the LX-90 and Canon XT.

Doug

[geppetto]

Agreed, its a beauty

Drag some more out

[OXO]

Lovely image we want more..........................Please

[russ]

Thats really nice.....terrific colour too and azazing focus.

Couple of questions, hope you don't mind :?

Did you use an artificial spider to get the diffraction spikes? What did you use for the spider?

Was the LX90 working at f10 or had you reduced it to f6.3?

Sorry for the questions. Ace image!

Russ

[Andrew]

Very nice image.

Anyone have any idea how much aperature you need to see that colour visually?

[russ]

According to Astronomy mag this month, 8" + needed from a good site.

Russ

[qcdougn]

Thank you all very much. Here's some info on how I took this, best I can remember. This was taken at f/10 and enlarged digitally about 250%. It was a stack of approx. 30 @20 sec. - ISO 800. It would be better if I could have barlowed 2 or 3X for this one with the DSLR. Other dedicated ccd cameras will not need to barlow very much.

The original image was very sharp. But, I lost a lot of resolution due to the blow-up in size. I put the spike on the star artifically with Noel Carboni's Astronomy Action, just before I posted it here. However, I often use nylon (fishing string), duct-taped in a cross + pattern in front of the scope. This is very low-tech... . But, works wonderful for achieving focus on a test star before imaging.

I'll see what else I have on the HD that hasn't been put on my web-link.

Doug

[MartinB]

Excellent effort Doug on a really hard target. F10 is very difficult. I think it would be pretty ambitious trying to use a Barlow. At F20 you would need to have 80 sec exposures for the same light capture and would probably have a very fuzzy Eskimo. Great as it is.

[CELESCOPE]

nice one Doug , yes its a pity with this one we mainly take it at a small size , then loose some detail enlarging it . when i get my guiding sorted , i hopefully can get a larger image myself ,

Rog

[anthony]

fine image Doug,

makes me want to go afte that one too

Anthony

[qcdougn]

Thanks Rog, Anthony and all,

Remember this is a small target...but actually a fairly bright nebula --- as they go. So, f20 might not be too arkward with a DSLR. A regular/dedicated ccd camera would get it nicely too....just gotta wait until Winter.

Doug

[MartinB]

Maybe F20 with an SX adaptive optics guider, SXV H9 and an SXV guide camera - £3500. Drool

[qcdougn]

Hi Martin....

Nice suggestions on astro-gear...Or Maybe something in the SBIG - High End range?? .... Don't have that kind of $$$$$. I'll have to settle for regular guy, real world ... backyard-astronomer images.....

Doug

[MartinB]

I know, life is so cruel Might have to stick to little Eskimos

[Astroman]

Very nice image.

Anyone have any idea how much aperature you need to see that colour visually?

A 12" Newt should show it as greenish blue. I doubt you'll get the resolution or definition of color though. More of a suggestion.