NGC 7293 - The Helix Nebula
Date: October 13, 2020
Cosgrove’s Cosmos Catalog ➤#0056
NGC 7293 - The Helix Nebula as captured by my William Optics 132mm Platform. (click image for full resolution via Asrobin.com)
Awarded Flickr “Explore” Status Oct 15, 2020
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About the Target
NGC 7293, better known as the Helix Nebula, Caldwell 63 and in pop culture as "The Eye of God" or the "Eye of Sauron" - is a planetary nebula located 655 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius. Planetary Nebulae are formed when an intermediate to low-mass star sheds its outer layers as it reaches the end of its life. The Helix Nebula is one of the closest planetary nebulas to the Earth, is estimated to be about 2.5 light-years in diameter.
About the Project
I've always liked the Helix Nebula but it's not a very attractive target for me as it is due south and very low in the sky. This raises two issues.
First, I have a lot of trees on my property and I can only see low in the south if I look down the tree tunnel formed by my driveway. At best, I have maybe an hour and a half or so to shoot it as it emerges from the trees on one side of the driveway and before it sets in the trees on the other side of my driveway.
Secondly, it is very low for me, about 26 degrees of elevation when it transits. It basically sits right over the roof of my neighbor's house for most of its exposure time.
So what's not to love? Short access window, low elevation, looking through the maximum amount of atmosphere possible, thermal currents from the neighbor's roof…So shooting this is kind of a joke right?
On the other hand, this target does seem to bound the far side of the "goodness" continuum - I wonder what I could up with? Sounds like a bit of a challenge….
So last night is one of the few partially clear nights that we have had recently, so I went for it.
This image is the result of 42x150 seconds subs. Seeing was terrible and the guiding was less than optimal as well. My autofocus routine seemed to fail about half the time (normally it never fails) and I really needed way more subs to manage the noise better. I had a lot of work to do to try and pull an image out and this is what I ended up with. Looking on the bright side, all my future efforts should be easier and produce better results than what I just got - right?
Updated Comments 7-24-21 (as I publish this into the website):
To my surprise, this image has ended up being surprisingly well-liked as I have shared it. On Flickr, it was awarded “Explore” status and it remains my top viewed and “faved” image on that platform. Who knew?
The Annotated Image
An annotated image of SH2-155 created using Pixinsight’s ImageSolver and AnnotateImage Scripts.
The Location in the Sky
IAU/Sky & Telescope Constellation Map of Aquarius with the Helix Nebula marked by the yellow arrow.
Capture Details
Light frames
42 x 150 seconds, bin 1x1 @ -15C
Total integration time: 1.85 hours
Cal Frames
50 Bias exposures
25 Dark exposures
50 Flats
Capture Hardware
Scope: William Optics 132mm FLT F/7 APO
Guide Scope: Apterna 60mm
Camera: ZWO ASI294MC-Pro
Guide Camera: ZWO ASI290Mini
Focus Motor: Pegasus Astro Focus Cube 2
Field Rotator: Pegasus Astro Falcon
Mount: Ioptron CEM60
Polar Alignment: Ioptron Ipolar integrated alignment cameras
Software
Capture Software: PHD2 Guider, Sequence Generator Pro controller
Image Processing: Deepsky Stacker, Pixinsight, Photoshop, Coffee, extensive processing indecision and second-guessing, and much swearing…..
During the Summer of 2020, whilst stuck at home because of Covid I became very in improving the automation of the platform and achieving a more precise framing of the shots I made…