M97 - The Owl Nebula March 2009
M97 is a planetary nebula lying in Ursa Major. The 2 dark areas make it very distinctive and give rise to it's name. It is visible as a faint round smudge through small scopes. Larger apertures will reveal the eyes.
Scope: 10in LX200R with 0.63 reducer
Camera: QSI 532ws with SXV AO
Filters: Astronomic 13nm Ha and OIII
Exposure details: 11x600 seconds for both Ha and OIII.
Through the evening conditions had been very murky and there was a bright moon. I wasn't anticipating any imaging but had spent my time doing calibration runs. At midnight I was about to pack away when I noticed that the sky had cleared beautifully. M97 was right next door to the star I had been focusing on. It was just a quick matter of putting in the Ha and OIII filters.
Combined and captured with MaximDL and processing completed in Photoshop.