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Stellar Shot of the Week

Tony Hallas caught this sublime shot of the Helix Nebula with the SVX140T in Aquarius.

helix-rgb-stars-nb-jpg.jpg

Sometimes referred to as the "Eye of God", this planetary nebula was formed by an intermediate to low-mass star, which sheds its outer layers near the end of its life. It rests at a distance of 650 million light-years away from Earth, appearing as a helix structure. The observed glow of this nebula's central star is so energetic, that it causes the previously expelled gases to brightly fluoresce around it. 

Other Designations: NGC 7293, Caldwell 63.

Details:

Telescope: Stellarvue SVX140T 

Camera: ZWO 2600M CMOS camera

Filters: Astrodon RGBHaSiiOiii filters

Mount: Astro-Physics 900   

Location: Animas, New Mexico (Bortle 1 skies)

Exposure Information:

  • R, G, and B data: 14 exposures of 10 min for each filter.
  • Narrowband (Ha, Sii, Oiii) 12 exposures of 20 min for each filter.

Software: CCDStack and Photoshop were used to process the image.

References: 

Wikipedia contributors. (2024, October 27). Helix Nebula. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helix_Nebula

 

Send us your Stellarvue images! Email JPG images of your favorite astro-photographs taken with your Stellarvue refractor to: mail@stellarvue.com. Include in your email:

        "I grant Stellarvue Inc. permission to use the attached image(s) online".

It is always appreciated by our viewers if you include an image of your telescope/camera set up, and include details such as field flattener, mount, camera, acquisition data, exposures, filters and what you used to process the image. Clear skies!