This was the first Planetary Nebula discovered by Charles Messier! Always a treat to view with a large telescope and UHC or O3 filter.
Imaged with a Takahashi TOA 150, QHY163m camera, and AP 1100GTO mount.
This was the first Planetary Nebula discovered by Charles Messier! Always a treat to view with a large telescope and UHC or O3 filter.
Imaged with a Takahashi TOA 150, QHY163m camera, and AP 1100GTO mount.
Impressive. I'm always amazed at the images you guys get that rival some of the stuff we see from the big boys in the desert. I think it would look a little more striking with a black background, but there may be nuances there that I'm not seeing.
Yes that is nicer as it pops out more but then we loose some visibility of the outer shell. I set the levels to not clip the blacks. The sky is actually not black, it has faint signal. With enough exposure, (10-15 hours) you can see dust filaments all over the sky. AKA integrated flux nebula, or dust that is illuminated by the light from our Milky Way galaxy. Sometimes I'll post process the BG with more black like my M33 Triangulum photo. I think I'll add a bit more contrast to this one at your recommendation tho.
Thanks!
Rob