M57

M57 and Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3

Object: M57 and Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3c
Date: May 8, 2006 (2:01 AM Local Time)
Exposure: 90 Seconds @ 1600 ISO (Single Exposure)
Location: My-Spot Observatory - West Bloomfield, Michigan
Camera: Konica-Minolta Maxxum 7D
Equipment: 10" f/10 Meade OTA w/Meade 0.63x focal reducer on Losmandy G-11
Guide Scope: ETX90 OTA and SBIG ST-4 (Mostly A1's)

Hardware & Software: RAW conversion and Dark Frame subtraction done using my own WinMRW conversion software.  Then the image was then curve adjusted using Picture Window Pro. No other processing was performed...

Info: The focus of this image was very poor and the Limiting Magnitude was in the 3.3 range. I could not find my allen wrench set so a Meade 0.63x focal reducer was simply set in the GEG body. I also had to wait for this FOV to clear a very poorly placed tree.

Object: M57
Date: June 20, 2007
Location: "My-Spot" Observatory, West Bloomfield, Michigan (4.2 ZLM)
Exposure(s): 34 x 5 Min @ ISO 200 (170 Minutes)
Camera: Unmodified Konica Minolta Maxxum 7D
Equipement: 10"-f/10 Meade OTA w/GEG and focal reducer at f/7.5 on Losmandy G-11
Guide Scope: ETX90 OTA and SBIG ST-4
Software & Processing: RAW image files were dark frame subtracted and converted to Tif files using my RawHide RAW file converter. The Tifs were then aligned and stacked using Registar 1.0.7 and then processed and cropped using Picture Window Pro.

M57

Object: M57 - The Ring Nebula
Date: August 4, 2001
Exposure(s): 18 Min, 18 Min
Film: Kodak LE400
Equipement: 10" f/10 Meade OTA w/GEG @ f/6.3 on Losmandy G-11
Guiding: SBIG ST-4
Hardware & Software: HP S20xi film scanner, Hamrick Software's VueScan, The raw image scans were processed, cropped, and then digitally stacked using Picture Window.

Image Info: My image of M57 really suprised me do to the fact that I took it under my light polluted skies and during a full moon! This image was one of the first times I really saw a grain reduction in an image by stacking. The stars do not show any tracking problems, further confirming that I have made useful improvements to my G-11. The 14.7 mag central star in very clear. This is a BIG improvement over my first M57 image.

Object Info: M57, the Ring Nebula. The distance to M57 is not really well known but most estimates are in the 2000 to 3000 ly range with a few beening farther out then that.

M57_HaRGB_800

Object: M57
Location: My-Spot Observatory
Date(s): May 14, 19, 23, 24, 28, 30, & 31, 2010 (7 Nights)
Scope: Vixen VC200L w/Focal Reducer
Mount: Losmandy G-11
Guiding: ST80 OTA with QHY5
Camera: QHY8Pro
Exposure: 52 x 300 Secs (RGB), 372 x 120 Secs (RGB), 98 x 600 Secs (Ha) (Total 33 Hours, 4 Mins) 
254 x 120 Sec (8Hrs 28Mins) Lights (128 Flats, 128 Bias)
Processing: Nebulosity and fitswork4, Stacked in DSS and final processing with PWP

The Story: O.K. So I went a little nutts with this one. My goal was to reveal M57's the faint outer halo. After more then 33 Hours of exposure time I could declare success! Much of the imaging time was spent during the time of the full moon so even with the narrowband (12nm) Ha filter, there wasn't as much depth as I had hoped for. One strange issue was that the central star has all but disappeared in all of the processing.