I captured the Little Dumbbell Nebula (M76) the other night which makes this the 108th Messier object I have imaged, just two more to go. This object lives up to its name as being little and is much smaller than the Dumbell Nebula (M27) . The Little Dumbbell is a planetary nebula that is estimated to be 2,500 light years from us and about 1.23 ly across (source: wikipedia).
I have seen some really spectacular images of the Little Dumbbell using very large telescopes. I was using my little ED80 so I was not counting on getting any fine detail so I focused more on getting a pleasant star field. That being said, the Dumbbell turned out better than I expected and am very happy with the outcome.
I have seen some really spectacular images of the Little Dumbbell using very large telescopes. I was using my little ED80 so I was not counting on getting any fine detail so I focused more on getting a pleasant star field. That being said, the Dumbbell turned out better than I expected and am very happy with the outcome.
M76 - Little Dumbbell Nebula
Location: Home Monroe, CT
Date: 10-12-17
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i(a), Backyard EOS
Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 600mm
f/7.5
Focal Reducer: Orion 0.8x Focal Reducer for Refractor Telescopes
Mount: Orion Atlas Pro EQ/AZ Mount
Filter: Astrodon UV/IR
Autoguiding: QHY-5L-II-M attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope with Helical Focuser
Exposure: 69 x 90s
ISO: 1600
Temp: 16 C
Post Processing: Deep Sky Stacker, Photoshop, Lightroom, Gradient Exterminator, Astronomy Tools, StarTools.
https://kurtzeppetello.smugmug.com/
Kurt, I enjoyed your M76, it is remarkable when viewed at Full Resolution. I was wondering if you used all six of the post processing software for this image or if those are the ones you have at your disposal. I have just purchased Star Tools and looking forward to improving my post processing of other people's data.
ReplyDeleteHi Van, the answer is yes I used all six. I first stack them with (1) DSS and pull the original autosave file into (2) PS. I convert it into a 16 bit format and do some streching and use the PS plugin (3) Astronomy Tools ($20). I then bring it into (4) Star Tools and do some tweaking and then into (5) Lightroom. Lastly, I do my final editing in PS. You can do most of this in Star Tools and it is inexpensive enough to try it out. The developer, Ivo, is very responsive to questions as well. Trevor Jones from Astrobackyard.com has an excellent tutorial plan (https://astrobackyard.com/tutorials/astrophotography-tutorial-1/).
ReplyDeleteAttached are various plans by others including me.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/14p6Wpa4gsRxhSCmU_scUkT3ogE2fTMMGqrur0w679y8/edit?usp=sharing
Good Luck!
Kurt