Curdridge Observatory, Southampton,UK
Object name: M27 Dumbbell nebula
Apparent RA: 19 59 36.3
Apparent Dec:+22 43 18
Constellation: Vulpecula
15 Sep 2012
M27, the Dumbell Nebula might be one of the most terribly over photographed targets in the sky, but according to my database I haven't imaged it with my telescope since 2006, so during a poor evening when the outside lights were on I ran off 7x300s frames with the Ha filter on the 8 inch newtonian and then aggressively flattened the result to remove the expected gradients.
What I ended up with suprised me: You forget how bright the bright targets are. If you squint a bit, you can almost see a sniff of the outer halo. This was mostly an experiment whilst I was playing with other stuff, but turned out nicer than I expected.
View full sized image of M27 Dumbbell nebula
cCaptured and calibrated in Maxim and processed in Photoshop
This image was autoguided using my homemade off axis guider with Lodestar.
Imaged with my homemade telescope mount
Exposure Details :
Astrodon 6nm Ha 7x300s 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