The Seagull with Thor's Helmet in Tow - Test Image!

The Seagull Nebula or IC 2177 lies along the border between the constellations Monoceros and Canis Major.  I like this view of the Seagull Nebula as it appears to be towing Thor's Helmet (NGC 2359), an emission nebula located in the constellation Canis Major.  I had no idea how big the Seagull was compared to Thor's Helmet. In absolute terms the Seagull is 100 light-years across and Thor's Helmet is 30 ly across so the Seagull is still bigger.

I am happy with the image considering the image is only 25 minutes with no flats, no bias, and no dark frames.  I tried to pull more signal out of the image but with only 25 minutes and no support frames there is only so much you can do.  I did use an Astronomik UHC filter as it is in a heavily light polluted direction.  It was real easy to set up the camera and mount, the hard part was trying locate and frame the object.  However, I discovered that if you first take locate a bright star near the object with camera and then take pictures from the bright star in small steps until you get to the object, you can be centered fairly easily. 

I wanted to test my iOptron SkyGuider Pro and Canon 200mm Lens on a something cool from my yard so I decided on the Seagull Nebula, everything else was behind some trees at my location.  What I wanted to test in particular is how well the SkyGuider Pro tracked for 60-second exposures with a 200mm Lens.

At full view the stars look round but zoomed in they do not - this was after trashing six of the exposures. I did not use the counterweight this time as the entire weight was less the the weight counterweight side.  I believe the slight amount of trailing was due to the weather.  It was breezy when I was doing this experiment not to mention I was using a camera tripod with the legs fully extended which made for a less sturdy set up.

So the bad news is the stars are not perfectly round, the good news is they are not horrible.  I am going on a couple of trips where a compact travel set up will be much more practical.  For my next test I will put the mount on one of my sturdy telescope mounts and then try again with the tripod with the legs lowered.

Anyway, I was happy with the test and got a quick and decent image out of it.  I would like to do this object justice some day with more exposures and different filters but that will have to wait a while.

Seagull Nebula (IC 2177) and Thor's Helmet (NGC 2359)
Location: Home Monroe, CT
Date: 4-1-19
Camera: Canon T3i/600D modified
Lens: Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM
Focal Length: 200mm
f/3.5
Mount: iOptron SkyGuider Pro on a Manfrotto Tripod
Filter: Astronomik UHF Clip-in
Autoguiding: none
Exposure: 25 x 60s
ISO: 1600
Processing: DSS, PixInsight, Photoshop, Lightroom
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