M57 - running rings around the moon (Tom Gray)

M57 - running rings around the moon

With a 14 day nearly full moon, there were no more spring galaxies to be found, so I turned my scope towards planetary nebulae. In the bright moonlight, M57 was no more than a pale smudge, and not much better using a light pollution filter...

Modern narrowband filters are a marvel, cutting through the moonlight and sky glow, allowing the ionisation of oxygen and hydrogen to 'magically' shine through. 60m of exposure (in 5m subs) using a dual narrowband filter allow a surprising amount of detail to be seen in these gases which are expanding at ~1" per century, that's 20-30 km/s according to best estimates.

I'm thankful to live in a semi-rural location, on top of a hill, with reasonable Bortle 5 skies, albeit ever encroaching city lights to the SE. I often think of those trying to pursue this wonderful hobby within the city. Although expensive, narrow band filters are a game changer, and these dogged enthusiasts produce some truly astonishing images - hats off. I hope my effort provides some hope for those on a budget, using modest kit largely from the 1980s, together with a modern high performing filter.

At native f10 this remains quite a small object in my 8" SCT, and it may be worth trying a 2x Barlow, although would require very accurate autoguiding at a focal length of over 5000mm. I could of course just crop and zoom the image! Post processing was completed in Startools.

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Description: A higher resolution image stacked in Penumbra v0.6, processed in Startools with reduced gamma, more HDR and deconvolution, and gentle colour. Final image brightened and enlarged in iPhoto.

I'm pleased with the subtle detail and depth to the ring, but will need longer exposures on a dark night to develop the outer ring. Focus was quite good, but I think my collimation is slightly off, so will tweak, and try, try again.

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The OSC Club (One Shot Camera)
Optolong L-eNhance filter
UK Astro-Imaging
Altair Astro 183 M/C Hypercams
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Astrometry.net job	3493918
PixInsight job	L1L7KGRU2PPSOFKLRQOQ5XZBLJK8520Y
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PixInsight stage	PLATE_SOLVING_IMAGE

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