The Eye of God

[A.S.I.G.N. Observatory]

While shooting the Lagoon all night last night, there came a point where I was faced with an azimuth flip, which I am hesitant to do:whistle:....

So, while considering packing up and heading in, I had a flick through the tour function and lo and behold...what's this? The Helix Nebula? Leftover shell of a long gone stellar explosion.

Well, I had almost forgotten about this beauty so I thought I wpould have a go as it was still only four in the morning and there was still some dark left.

There was a bit of dew in the sky by then and I only got a few 10 minute subs. I had to reject a few because the moisture in the air was bouncing orange street light sky glow around like crazy.

I had to stretch the heck out of it but hey, do what you can huh?

I can't wait to do this again in about a month and do it properly!

Baz.

Black Diamond ED120APO, Orion Starshoot Pro DSI OS CCD camera.

[Karl Johnston]

Hey wow :D I've seen pictures of this ...wooow

[Desertraptor]

Wow

[Celestron]

Very ,very nice Baz ! I would like to see you add more to this one cause this one is very seldom imaged and posted anywhere !

[Naturalist]

Very nice image. You must have a heck of a scope!

[A.S.I.G.N. Observatory]

Thanks guys! Doug, the scope is only a 120mm refractor F/7.5

Does the job though.

Baz.

[dispatchermike21]

Amazing. can't wait to see the next one.

[Nighthound]

Great work Baz. The color looks dead on and you're getting some nice interior detail.

Looking forward to your encore.

[cruiser]

Great shot Baz,

Its great when something you that you hadn't even planned turns out to be so good.
Lovely colours too.

Brett

[chris.bailey]

Very nice capture and I dont think it is spoiled by the level of stretching. Is that cropped, if not that scope has great flatness out to the edges.

[Jim G]

Fascinating!

[Adrena1in]

Is that cropped, if not that scope has great flatness out to the edges.

I'm assuming that must be cropped...I'm sure the Helix wouldn't appear that big through a 900mm scope. If it does though I'm definitely going to have to give it a go.

Lovely image, I really like the Helix Nebula, and the Ring, which is similar.

[chris.bailey]

I'm assuming that must be cropped...I'm sure the Helix wouldn't appear that big through a 900mm scope.

that was my first thought too but no signs of obvious pixellation if heavily cropped from a Starshoot CCD.

[jbrown7815]

Hey Baz :D

I can actually see your pics here.


Pretty awesome

[videochicke]

Great shot!!!

[A.S.I.G.N. Observatory]

Thanks heaps everyone!!

I only cropped off the edges where the stacking program left edges. There was a slight amount of elongated stars near the corners, but the flatness of this scope is excellent in general.

[davidd10]

That is really nice!

[RandyMN]

Nice shot but it brings up a question about astr-photography.

Is it true that to take photo's of atronomy objects the camera needs to track a moving object to actually get the exposure correct?

The object is actually moving enough during exposure to only get a sharp subject by having the lens move with it?

[A.S.I.G.N. Observatory]

Nice shot but it brings up a question about astr-photography.

Is it true that to take photo's of atronomy objects the camera needs to track a moving object to actually get the exposure correct?

The object is actually moving enough during exposure to only get a sharp subject by having the lens move with it?
That's right Randy. My telescope and camera is mounted to an EQ6 PRO German Equatorial Mount. Sidereal timed worm drives follow the stars and track through the night, while a parallel telescope uses an auto-guide camera to send any periodic error corrections directly to the motor drives in the mount.

Baz.

[Peerie]

Baz,

You don't have IMAGE EDITING OK, therefore I can't post the image I have edited.

Do you want me to post it?

John

[Peerie]

Randy,

The dark sky object isn't moving. We are moving.

John

[A.S.I.G.N. Observatory]

Baz,

You don't have IMAGE EDITING OK, therefore I can't post the image I have edited.

Do you want me to post it?

JohnGo for it John. I'm out in the observatory tonight shooting the Trifid Nebula so I may not answer for a few hours.

I will be re-doing the Eye of God at the end of the week for a few nights, to get a LOT more subs.

[Peerie]

Baz,

Have had play with the image. Will help with other data added to it.

You obviously have good skies.

John

[A.S.I.G.N. Observatory]

Nice John. Colours are a bit rich and painted though. You are correct though. More data hopefully this weekend being a new moon.

Baz.

[Celestron]

Here is what is better know as The Eye of God (Helix Neb) . Some do red but the most popular color is like this one from the eso.org gallery .

http://www.eso.org/gallery/d/83184-1/phot-07a-09.jpg

[InverseX]

Crazy! Well done.