Reports

I'm back at my favourite dark sky "preserve" at Spectacle Lake near Barry's Bay, Ontario.

I arrived just before 5 pm Sunday, and I was bagged. But later on, when the night sky was clear, the adrenaline rush wiped away any tiredness.

And Sunday night was beautiful, despite the presence of high, hazy cirrus cloud.

Here is the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293), in Aquarius, from just after midnight (therefore Monday morning). This is a cropped version of a stack of 7 images (7 X 92 seconds on average) for a total combined exposure time of 10 minutes 44 seconds. Images taken with Canon Digital Rebel 300D with Tamron 300mm f/2.8 telephoto lens on Super Polaris mount at ISO 1600. Stacked using DSS. Another version will be posted later.

Bob Christmas

The Helix Nebula (NGC 7293) by Bob Christmas