M76 Little Dumbbell/Barbell/Cork Planetary Nebula in Perseus

Date: 11/13/2007

Location: Tierra Del Sol, California

Conditions: 0% moon, seeing 6/10, transparency 6/10, temperature 55-65F, very dry night, wind 5-15mph.

Telescope: Celestron C8, .63 focal reducer, prime focus, no diagonal.

Guiding: TV85, 600mm, F7, prime focus, w/ diagonal, camera-The Images Source 24AF04.AS, PHD software

Mount: Losmandy G11, Gemini goto, polar scope used to align.

Camera: Canon EOS 40D

Focusing: focused on star using live Focus mode.

Exposures: (10) 5 min RAW 800 ISO, (10) bias, (10) flat, (6) dark

Processing: IP3.0 converted RAW to FITS, calibrated, align-rotate, combine min-max excluded average, digital development, converted to TIFF, PS CS3 cropped, white balance, black point, sky neutralized, curves, hue-saturation, image-adjustment-shadow/highlight, reduced size for web, and sharpened.

 

Comments: magnitude 12.2, 1.1' long - small object.