M27 The Dumbell Nebula

Below is an image of M27 taken on 8/08/05. This is the first time I've taken flat frames. The image was taken with an Sbig ST-2000XM camera, with a CFW-8a color filter wheel. The telescope used was an 8 inch Meade LX200 at f/6.3. Exposures were 60 minutes Luminance binned 1x1, 45 minutes Red binned 2x2, 30 minutes Green binned 2x2, and 30 minutes Blue binned 2x2. All subexposures were 3 minutes. 24 dark frames were combined and subtracted from the subframes. Flat frames were taken with a lightbox that I built. LRGB combination was done in Photoshop, along with levels and a slight unsharp mask.

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Below is an image of M27 taken on 7/27/05. The image was taken with an Sbig ST-2000XM camera, with a CFW-8a color filter wheel. The telescope used was an 8 inch Meade LX200 at f/10. Exposures were 60 minutes Luminance binned 1x1, 45 minutes Red binned 2x2, 30 minutes Green binned 2x2, and 30 minutes Blue binned 2x2. All subexposures were 3 minutes. 24 dark frames were combined and subtracted from the subframes. All images were combined using Sigma Beta with a Standard Deviation and Sum. LRGB combination was done in Photoshop, along with levels and a slight unsharp mask.

Click on the image for a larger version.

Below is an image of M27 taken with my SBIG ST-2000XM CCD Camera and CFW8A Color Filter Wheel. The image is 185 exposures.  90 x 30 seconds in L, 45 x 30 seconds in R, 25 x 30 seconds in G, and 25 x 30 seconds in B. Processed with MaximDL.

Click on image for larger version