Monday, August 17, 2015

Catching the Dumbbell Nebula during the Meteor Shower

While watching the Persiad Meteor Shower Wednesday night/Thursday morning (and trying get photo with my old camera) I had another go at it with my autoguider setup (see autoguider post) imaging the the Dumbbell Nebula (M27).  The Dumbbell Nebula is a planetary nebula, formed from an exploding star 9800 years ago (estimated).  It located in the constellation Vulpecula (halfway between the bright stars,  Deneb and Altair of the Summer Triangle) at a distance of about 1360 light years from Earth.

The image was made by stacking nine exposures each 90 seconds for a total time of 14.5 minutes. The autoguider worked perfectly as the stars show no trailing.

Image 1 - Raw Crop

Image 2 - Raw from DSS

Image 3 - JPEG from DSS

Image Details:
Images 1 - 3:
M27 - The Dumbbell Nebula (mag +7.5)
Location: Monroe, CT
Date/Time: 8/12/15 11:38 PM
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i
Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope
Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G GoTo Telescope Mount
Autoguiding: Orion StarShoot G3 attached to and Orion Short Tube 80mm
Focal Length: 600mm
f/7.5
Exposure: 9-90s (total exposure, 14m30s)
ISO: 1600
Post Processing: DSS, PS (crop)

I did manage to get a shot of a meteor during my viewing session and some shoot of the faint Milky Way from my light polluted front yard in southern Connecticut.
Image 4 - Meteor is just below M31

Image 5 - Milky Way

Image 6 - Milky Way

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