Bill's Astro Blog: M27 "The Dumbbell Nebula"

M27 "The Dumbbell Nebula", a planetary nebula in Vulpecula.
Distance: ~1,360 (ly.)

Camera: Starlight Xpress SXVF-H9

Guider: Starlight Xpress Ex-View off-axis with Starlight Xpress Active Optics unit. 0.3 second guide exposures.

Scope: Celestron C8 @ F6

Filters: Astronomik Ha,Oiii & Sii 10 x 4 min. each.

Mild Log Stretch.

Date acquired: Nov 2, 2011

Conditions: Clear, 44deg., heavy dew, first quarter Moon.

Top image is 3 channel

Ha=Red, OIII=Green, SII=Blue

The 2nd image is 2 channel.

Ha=Red, OIII=Green, OIII=Blue

The 3rd image is 3 channel again but mapped using the Hubble pallete.

SII=Red, Ha=Green, OIII=Blue

(4/24/2023 Update) For some reason the images were broken and not available. Also of note is these images exhibit very poor tracking even with the AO unit. This was due to the then new Ieq45 mount having really sub-standard tracking ability. The AO unit and also the auto-guider mount corrections "bumps" were not able to compensate for the gross oscillations of the RA gear caused by the design of the belt driving the worm. Some time after this I did add a retrofit kit with upgraded worm and a tensioner for the belt to take up the slack. It was during this time that I placed an order for my Losmandy Titan and delegated the Ieq45 to visual only use.