The Helix Nebula

[nighthound]

This is the planetary nebula known as the Helix. The term planetary nebula comes from the early discovery of these objects by astonomers who thought they resembled planets when viewed through their crude telescopes. Planetaries are actually remnants of the death of a star known as a supernova. When a star runs out of fuel and the fusion process cannot continue, the star erupts or explodes leaving behind a dwarf star and a cloud or ring of dust and gas. These oblects are quite small from our vantage point for the most part but the Helix is a decent size although very faint.

Canon 20D • TAK Sky 90 II • Losmandy G-11 Mount • IDAS Light Pollution Filter • Stiletto for focus.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y67/Nighthd/Astrophotography/helix2x.jpg

NH

[MGlennn]

Nice one and very interesting history.....keep 'em coming :D :D :D

[Jonathan]

Well I can see why they would have mistaken it. Is the red ring coming out the ring of dust smoke? very neat and as always well done!

[nighthound]

Thanks Mike and Jonathan.

Jonothan, the colored areas consist of dust and gas illuminated by heating from the remaining dwarf star. Neon lights work in a similar manner, heat the gas and it glows.

NH

[Kevin]

How exciting and rewarding this must be for you to have these in your collection! I'm still fascinated!

[nighthound]

It's a long learning curve but the payoff has been worth the effort. I've not only gained images but knowledge of things that I never dreamed I would. The more I see and image, the more I want. I don't think I could have picked a more difficult way to break into photography. Getting out and shooting terrestrial is much more relaxing for me. Daytime shooting has many challenges of it's own but it doesn't have as many obstacles to overcome for the most part. At night I deal not only with the scope/tracking needed to shoot from a moving object but then there's atmospheric turbulence that very often is pretty bad and will make sharp focus virtually impossible. There's also atmospheric transparency that is diminished by high humidity and along the coast we have lot of that which gives your stars a nice unwanted glow. And to top it off there's only one Moonless weekend per month and hopefully it's clear one of those nights. Moonlight and local light pollution are problems too of course but I have a light pollution filter that helps with the city lights.I'm not complaining, I do enjoy it very much but it takes patience.

NH