M27 - The Dumbbell Nebula
Description: M27 the Dumbbell Nebula is in the constellation of Vulpecula. This image was taken on May 15, 2008 from my home in Snohomish, WA. It was a quick test shot to evaluate my newest telescope: An 8" Meade LX200ACF optical tube. I bought this telescope as a part of my fight against differential flexure. It has the same focal length as my Celestron C8. With my ST-10XME camera and AstroPhysics .67 telecompressor, it works out to about 1620mm which is a scale that I like to work with. As an added bonus, this scope also has Meade's coma free optics, and I have to say that they definitely work. Stars stay round all through the field, and even out to the internal guide chip on the ST-10.. It is also a test of my first automatic focuser, an Optec TCF-S. Based on these initial results, I think I'm going to like this combination.
Equipment: The image was taken with an 8" Meade LX200ACF telescope on a Celestron CGE mount. The camera was an SBIG ST10XME with an Astro-Physics .67 Telecompressor and Astrodon filters. The guide scope and camera were an Orion ST-80 refractor with an SBIG remote guide head attached to the ST10. Focusing was done with an Optec TCF-S focuser with temperature compensation turned off.
Exposures: 11x120 seconds luminance binned 1x1; 12x120 seconds each red, green and blue exposures binned 2x2.
Processing: Bias, dark & flat calibration, image registration & color registration were done in Maxim/DL. Curves, levels, LRGB combination, zone sharpening & noise reduction were done in Photoshop CS2. Gradient processing was done with GradientXTerminator.
Click on image for full resolution.