Instrument

12.5" RCOS @  ~f/9 (2880 mm fl) 0.64 arcsec / pixel.

Mount

Paramount ME

Camera

SBIG ST-7 w/ CFW-8A filter wheel, Custom Scientific filters

Acquisition Date

10/21/2008 to 10/30/2008  Chino Valley, AZ

Exposure

Lum     200 min (20 x 10 min, bin 1x1)

Red     120 min (12 x 10 min, bin 2x2)

Green  120 min (12 x 10 min, bin 2x2)

Blue     200 min (20 x 10 min, bin 2x2)

Software

CCDSoft, CCDStack, Photoshop CS w/ the Fits Liberator plugin, Russell Croman's GradientXTerminator and Noel Carboni's Astronomy Tools.

CCDStack to register, normalize, data reject & combine.

PhotoShop for non-linear stretching, sharpening & color combine.

Comment

North is to the left.

The planetary nebula M76, in the constellation Perseus, has been known under several names, such as the Cork, Butterfly or Barbell Nebula, but is most often called the Little Dumbbell. The central star is still visible at a photographic magnitude of 16.5, and is variously sized from 0.6 to 0.9 solar masses at temperatures from below 100,000K to above 170,000K

Distance: about 2500 light-years but very uncertain.
Size: about 0.7 light-years across, obviously also uncertain. 

Source: NOAO/AURA/NSF. 

Instrument

Celestron C11 @  F/10.48 (2930 mm)  1.264 arcsec / pixel

Mount

Paramount ME

Camera

SBIG STL-11000 w/ internal filter wheel, AstroDon Filters

Acquisition Date

11/19/07 to 12/12/07  Chino Valley... with CCDAutoPilot3

Exposure

2/3 LRGB & 1/3 HaRGB mix

Lum    160 min (16 x 10 min, bin 2x2)

Ha      180 min (9 x 20 min, bin 2x2)
RGB     240 min (8 x 10 min, bin 3x3) each

Software

CCDSoft, Photoshop CS w/ the Fits Liberator plugin and Noel Carboni's actions, Sigma Clip (pre beta 11) and Paint Shop Pro.

Comment

North is to the top.