Telescope: Astro-Tech 8” f/8 Ritchey-Chretien, Orion Atlas EQ-G
Camera: QHY 367c Pro, 0C, Baader Mk III MPCC
Filter: GSO IR Blocking Filter
Guide scope: Astro-Tech 60mm, ZWO ASI120MM mini, PHD2
Exposure: 21x300sec, gain 2800, offset 50, saved as FITS, dithered every 2 images
Darks: 32, 0C, gain 2800, offset 50, saved as FITS
Flats: 64x500ms, Tee shirt flats taken at dusk
Average Light Pollution: Red zone, Bortle 8, fair transparency
Lensed Sky Quality Meter: 18.6
Stacking: Average, 1 sigma clip
White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic
Software: SharpCap Pro, Deep Sky Stacker, Nebulosity, Photoshop
M27, the Dumbbell nebula, is an expanding shell of gas that was ejected from a sun-like star as it exhausted its hydrogen fuel. Swollen into a red giant, the star shed its outer shell while its core collapsed into a white dwarf. Fierce UV radiation from the collapsed core sets the surrounds gas aglow with the blue/green light of doubly ionized oxygen. The diameter of the nebula is about 1 light-year with an estimated age of 9,800 years. Located between Sagitta and Cygnus, M27 is fairly easy to find with a small telescope. Visually, it shows two lobes connected by a neck of nebulosity, giving the nebula its characteristic dumbbell shape.
It took a couple of nights to get this new camera settled in, but I think that I’m close. There’s a little bit of tweaking to do yet, bit I’m starting to get the results that I was hoping for.
M27 is currently well placed in the northeast in the early evening and is high in the south after midnight.
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