The Helix Nebula is one of the closest planetary nebula to the Earth, at an estimated distance of about 650 light years. This then also makes it the largest planetary nebula in the night sky. Planetary nebula have nothing to do with planets, but are created when some stars, nearing the end of their stellar lifetime, begin to blow off layers of material. This object is low in the sky, even imaged from Southern AZ, but still makes for a interesting object, even with a 100mm refractor. Equipment: ZWO ASI1600MM-C Camera @ -20C and Gain:200 Offset:50 Software Bisque MyT Mount Stellarvue SVQ100 Astrograph Refractor, 580mm @ f/5.8 Innovations Foresight ONAG Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8 Lightroom CC Photoshop CC Innovations Foresight SkyGuard Light Frames: Ha: 41 x 300 secs ( 3 hrs 25 mins) OIII: 37 x 300 secs (3 hrs 5 mins) SII: 34 x 300 secs (2 hrs 50 mins) Red: 11 x 30 secs (5 mins 30 secs) Green: 12 x 30 secs (6 mins) Blue: 12 x 30 secs (6 mins) 9 hrs 37 mins 30 secs total Dark Frames: 10 x 60 secs, RGB (30 mins) 10 x 360 secs, Ha,OIII,SII (3 hrs) Bias Frames 100 Flat Frames 20 each filter More Info from Wikipedia: The Helix Nebula (also known as NGC 7293 or Caldwell 63) is a planetary nebula (PN) located in the constellation Aquarius. Discovered by Karl Ludwig Harding, probably before 1824, this object is one of the closest to the Earth of all the bright planetary nebulae.[4] The distance, measured by the Gaia mission, is 655±13 light-years.[5] It is similar in appearance to the Cat's Eye Nebula and the Ring Nebula, whose size, age, and physical characteristics are similar to the Dumbbell Nebula, varying only in its relative proximity and the appearance from the equatorial viewing angle.[6] The Helix Nebula has sometimes been referred to as the "Eye of God" in pop culture,[7] as well as the "Eye of Sauron".[8][9]
The Lion Nebula is estimated to be between 10,000 - 12,000 light-years away, in the constellation Cepheus. A wider FOV or a camera rotator would have allowed me to get the entire nebula in view, but the resemblance is still visible in this rotated and cropped version I think. It is an extensive emission nebula, with a distinctive 'searchlight' feature that appears to emanate from within the red region of this image. The red areas are primarily due to ionized Hydrogen emission and the Blue regions to OIII emission in this bicolor version. Equipment: ZWO ASI1600MM-C Camera @ -20C and Gain:200 Offset:50 Software Bisque MyT Mount Stellarvue SVQ100 Astrograph Refractor, 580mm @ f/5.8 Innovations Foresight ONAG Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8 Lightroom CC Photoshop CC Innovations Foresight SkyGuard Light Frames: Hα: 35 x 360 secs ( 3 hrs 30 mins) OIII: 32 x 360 secs (3 hrs 12 mins) Red: 13 x 30 secs (6 mins 30 secs) Green: 14 x 30 secs (7 mins) Blue: 11 x 30 secs (5 mins 30 secs) 7 hrs 01 mins total Dark Frames: 10 x 60 secs, RGB (30 mins) 10 x 360 secs, Ha,OIII (2 hrs) Bias Frames 100 Flat Frames 20 each filter
Here is a famous object, called the Pelican Nebula (even though I think it looks more like a Pterodactyl :) ). This object is frequently imaged along with the North America Nebula, which is a brighter area of nebulosity out of the frame to the left and above. This is shot in narrowband and mixed using the SHO palette. Extra data was taken in the 2 fainter narrowband channels (OIII and SII) to mitigate noise. The stars were added from a very small amount of RGB data. The data was taken unguided. Equipment: ZWO ASI1600MM-C Camera @ -15C and Gain:200 Offset:50 Software Bisque MyT Mount Stellarvue SVQ100 Astrograph Refractor, 580mm @ f/5.8 Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8 Lightroom CC Photoshop CC Innovations Foresight SkyGuard Light Frames: Ha: 62 x 360 secs (6 hrs 12 mins) OIII: 81 x 360 secs (8 hrs 06 mins) SII: 84 x 360 secs (8 hrs 24 mins) Red:16 x 30 secs (8 mins) Green:16 x 30 secs (8 mins) Blue: 16 x 30 secs (8 mins) 23 hrs 06 mins total Dark Frames: 10 x 30 secs, RGB (5 mins) 10 x 360 secs, Ha,OIII,SII (3 hrs) Bias Frames 60 Flat Frames 20 each filter From Wikipedia: The Pelican Nebula (also known as IC 5070 and IC 5067[1]) is an H II region associated with the North America Nebula in the constellation Cygnus. The gaseous contortions of this emission nebula bear a resemblance to a pelican, giving rise to its name.[1] The Pelican Nebula is located nearby first magnitude star Deneb, and is divided from its more prominent neighbor, the North America Nebula, by a molecular cloud filled with dark dust. The Pelican is much studied because it has a particularly active mix of star formation and evolving gas clouds.
