M97 Owl nebula

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Curdridge Observatory, Southampton,UK
Object name: M97 Owl nebula
Apparent RA: 11 14 47.7  Apparent Dec:+55 01 10
Constellation: Ursa Major
03 Feb 2012

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During a period of bright moon and clear skies I decided that the best thing to do was spend some time on the ultra bright planetary nebula, M97, NGC 3587, the Owl Nebula.

During the first evening I captured 6 hours of data with my Skywatcher Newtonian telescope and the 6nm Astrodon Ha filter. The following evening was also clear with a bright moon so another 6 hours was invested with the 8nm Baader OIII filter.

The combination of large integration times and a bright target makes for a very smooth result. I've put the Ha data into the red channel, and the OIII into the blue channel along with a synthetic green channel to make this colourful result.

View full sized image of M97 Owl nebula

cCaptured in Maxim and processed in Photoshop

This image was autoguided using my homemade off axis guider with Lodestar.

Imaged with my homemade telescope mount

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Exposure Details :

Astrodon 6nm Ha 50x420s on 200 @ F5 f.l. 1000 with Artemis 285 camera
Baader 8nm OIII 51x420s on 200 @ F5 f.l. 1000 with Artemis 285 camera

Equipment:

Skywatcher 200 Newt (upgraded with OO Hilux secondary)
Baader Focuser
Homemade focus motor
Homemade filterwheel / OAG combo with Lodestar guide camera
Artemis 285 CCD camera
Homemade Telescope mount

Curdridge Observatory, Southampton,UK