Always wanted to have a red hot go at this amazing target.

I pushed the data pretty hard to get the outer chevrons & filigree details to seperate from the LP at my inner suburban location, so there’s some noise present to maintain the signal!

30hrs 3nm Ha 1800 secs
30Hrs 3nm Ha Bin x 2 1200 secs
11 Hrs O3 1800 secs
1hr each RG & B 120secs

Wanted to show the O3 eye structures in the iris, so plenty of masking used in PS to balance the Ha/O3 present.

Big project – hopefully finished now!

Processed in Astro Pixel Processor & Photoshop CC 2018

Image selected as NASA/APOD 13 Feb, 2019

One of only 50 Shortlisted images out of 4500 entries – 2019 Insight International Astronomy Photographer of the Year 

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Helix Nebula NGC 7293 deep space narrowband image
Helix Nebula NGC 7293 deep space narrowband image

Capture Details

Telescope GSO RC8 CF
Camera QSI 683 WSG8
Mount Skywatcher EQ6 Pro
Filters Astrodon 3nm Ha, O3 &RGB
Guiding Camera Starlight Xpress Lodestar X2
Integration time (Exposure) 75 hrs
Location Burwood, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Date Sept - Nov 2018

About this Nebula

Is the Helix Nebula looking at you? No, not in any biological sense, but it does look quite like an eye. The Helix Nebula is so named because it also appears that you are looking down the axis of a helix. In actuality, it is now understood to have a surprisingly complex geometry, including radial filaments and extended outer loops. The Helix Nebula (aka NGC 7293) is one of brightest and closest examples of a planetary nebula, a gas cloud created at the end of the life of a Sun-like star.The remnant central stellar core, destined to become a white dwarf star, glows in light so energetic it causes the previously expelled gas to fluoresce. The featured picture, taken in the light emitted by oxygen (shown in blue) and hydrogen (shown in red), was created from 75 hours of exposure over three months from a small telescope in my suburban backyard in Melbourne, Australia. (APOD)

About APOD

Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) is originated, written, coordinated, and edited since 1995 by Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell. The APOD archive contains the largest collection of annotated astronomical images on the internet.

APOD in general and the APOD site served from NASA specifically places links solely on information content and does not endorse any commercial product nor guarantee claims or sales made on any linked pages.
In real life, Bob and Jerry are two professional astronomers who spend most of their time researching the universe. Bob is a professor at Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan, USA, while Jerry is a scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland USA. They are two married, mild and lazy guys who might appear relatively normal to an unsuspecting guest.

Together, they have found new and unusual ways of annoying people such as staging astronomical debates.

Apod selects images from the Hubble, Cassini Spacecraft, and the world’s top observatories.

A select few amateur astronomy images are occasionally featured. To have one’s image chosen by APOD/NASA is generally regarded as the highest honour for an amateur astrophotographer.

Eye of God

Image selected as NASA/APOD 13 Feb 2019

One of only 50 Shortlisted images out of 4500 entries – 2019 Insight International Astronomy Photographer of the Year 

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Image selected as NASA/ APOD for Feb 13, 2019, 1164 shares on FB and 100,000 views – not too bad for a backyard photo!