M27 Bi-Color (May 2017)

This image combines the H-α and OIII data from that collected in May (9x720" for H-α and 8x720" for OIII).  A synthetic green channel was created in Registar and included to create an RGB frame.

M13 (May 2017)

Well, here is a close-up of the great globular cluster in Hercules.  This is 15x300" with the CFF290 Classical Cassegrain and SXVF-H9C, shrunk about 8%.  The great photogenic thing about M13 is that none of the stars are bright enough to blow out the pixels in a 5-minute exposure, yet that same exposure captures some pretty dim stars.  Great target!

M27, Dumbbell Nebula (May 2017)

M27 is found in Vulpecula and is one of the best telescopic sights of summer.  I have "discovered" it many times: most notably in 11x80 binoculars from the desert east of Reno and with an 80mm refractor in Bear Lake, Idaho.  Here is what it looks like with a color camera from my backyard in The Woodlands, TX, with narrowband data added.  I gathered 9x720" in H-alpha and 8x720" in OIII with the SXVF-H9 and combined this with 25x360" taken with the SXVF-H9C.  Of course, this is the big scope, the CFF 290mm Classical Cassegrain, at an effective focal length of about f/8.  The filters are Astronomik.  Guiding was done with an SX-OAG on a Takahashi NJP.