NGC 7293 - The Helix Nebula
A faint planetary nebula that is both closest to us and of largest apparent size.
  • RA: 22:30
  • Dec: -20:47
  • Size: 16x12'
  • Magnitude: 6.3
  • Distance: 450 ly
  • Constellation: Aquarius
  • Millennium Star Atlas: Vol. III, p. 1355
  • Scope: 12.5" Ritchey-Chretien at f/9
  • Autoguider: ST-4 in faint mode
  • Sky conditions: Excellent transparency, superb seeing
  • Film: FLI Dream Machine CCD
  • Exposure: 14x420 seconds R, 8x420 seconds G, 12x420 seconds B
  • Date: 9-9-04 and 9-12-04

Technically a revision of an earlier shot of the Helix but since I used no data from that set, I'm calling this a new image. If you look at the old image, you will see why. After basically getting skunked for most of the year weatherwise, I guess Mother Nature decided to pay us back karmically and provided not one but two nights of the same kind of seeing I had when I took the M20 image. This allowed me to acquire a second data set and improve the final signal to noise ratio considerably, although low clouds or fog on the southern horizon ruined part of the green exposure set for that night.


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