Helix Nebula or NGC 7293, it is also Caldwell 63, although its most famous name is “the eye of god.”
Its angular size of 25 arc minutes makes it an easy object to photograph with relatively short focal lengths.
It was discovered by Karl Ludwig Harding at the beginning of the 19th century and is one of the closest planetary nebulae to Earth (approximately 680 light years).
It is estimated that this could be the end of the Sun, although there is a long way to go.
For now, we have to enjoy this beautiful astronomical object and photograph it many times!
Collaborative work with my good friend Javier López Elizalde. Despite setbacks, we achieved our goal with this beautiful object.
Technical data:
– 11 inch Celestron SCT telescope with Hyperstar v3 system
– Losmandy G11 mount
– Main Camera: ASI 071 MC Pro
– Guide Camera: ZWO ASI 120MM Mini
– Filter: IDAS NBZ
– Capture: ASIAIR Pro
– Focal length: 540mm
– Focal ratio: 1.9
– 120 Lights of 120 seconds (3.9 hours)
– 16 Darks
– Gain: 90
– Temperature: -10ºC
– Bin 1
– Stacked and processed in PixInsight Core 1.8.8.9
– Scaled in Adobe PS CC 2021
– Sky Bortle 4
– Tecate, Baja California, Mexico
– September 7-8, 2021.
© Javier López Elizalde & Brandon Echeverry Sierra.