Location: San Bruno, CA
Telescope: Celestron 9.25 with F/d 6.3 reducer on Takahashi NJP-Z Mount
Camera: Qhy8 CCD with Astronomik CLS CCD Filter
This is the result of 16 exposures of 330 sec. The Celestron C9.25 is really a good choice for planetary nebula given its relatively long focal length, and its large aperture.
I find also that many planetary nebula are a nice target when on a light polluted site, since they have a relatively high surface brightness.
What is more important here is to have a night with good seeing conditions, very good tracking, take multiple shots, and stack!
Software: Maxim DL5, Photoshop CS4, Nik Sharpener
This is a crop of the previous image, showing more details in the Nebula dendrils.
#1 by Paul Anthony Brierley. on September 12, 2012 - 11:21 am
Your image of Messier 1 is excellent, show’s how good this telescope is for Deep sky imaging.
I’m upgrading from years of using a 10″ Newtonian to a C9.25 XLT/CGE for this type of work. If my SCT is as good as your’s. Then I will be very happy
#2 by jmeriaux on September 13, 2012 - 11:41 am
Hi Paul – thanks! Very nice pictures you have on your Flickr stream !
I found the C9.25″ XLT to be a nice telescope to work-with great quality / price ratio difficult to beat – and esp. good for smaller objects – Galaxies and planetary nebulae. On top of it this is still a scope very easy to handle / operate (weight, compactness) ..
— Jean-Christophe