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| Common Name |
Helix Nebula / The Eye of God |
| Formal Name |
NGC 7293 |
| Date |
7/19-23/2006 |
| Constellation |
Aquarius |
| Location |
Eldorado, TX X Bar Ranch |
| Equipment |
Tak Sky90 mounted on Nexstar 11GPS, SBig 2000XM Camera/Filter Wheel, Astrodon filters |
| Temperature |
−15°C |
| Exposures |
| # |
Exp (sec) |
Filter |
Bin |
Net Time (hr) |
2
1 |
1800
900 |
Blue |
1x1 |
|
1
3 |
1800
900 |
Red |
1x1 |
|
4
1 |
1800
900 |
Green |
1x1 |
|
| 3 |
900 |
HAlpha |
1x1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
|
6 hrs |
|
| Processing |
Calibrated in CCDSoft
Aligned in Registar
Adaptive added in Images Plus
Combined H-alpha (80%) with Red in Photoshop
Adjusted Levels and Curves, cropped, filtered in Photoshop |
| Notes |
- The nebula was discovered by the German astronomer Karl Ludwig Harding in the early 19th century.
- Age 10,600 years
- Distance 695 lyr
- Radius 2.87 lyr
- NGC 7293 was the first planetary nebula discovered to have cometary knots, which many planetary nebulae were later discovered to contain.
Each of these knots contains bright cusps and tails, and they all extend away from the central star in a radial direction. Most of the knots are believed to be roughly the size of the solar system.
The nebula is believed to contain about 20,000 cometary knots.
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