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Planetary Nebula Messier 97, Owl Nebula

Object :	M97, Owl Nebula
Coordinates/Direction :	center of image, RA 11h15m, Dec +54 55'
Object size :	202" by 196"
Object magnitude :	9.9
More to know :	Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Owl Nebula

M97 2024-02-01, 2024-02-03, 2024-02-04, 2024-02-05, crop (Click on the image and get one high resolution image in a new window)

Date :	2024-02-01, 2024-02-03, 2024-02-04, 2024-02-05
Time (UT) :	-

Exp. time :	111x120 seconds, 3 hours 42 minutes, iso1600
Image process tool :	Siril, Gimp, Irfanview
Processing :	calibration bias, flat and astro metric color
Weather :	Clear sky, temperature -5o C

Comment :

More exposures, now it closing in at almost 4 hours. Is it enough ? No, you can add much more exposures and lower the noise even more. But in a low light pollution area it had been much better already with this exposure time.

M97 2024-02-01, 2024-02-03, 2024-02-04, crop (Click on the image and get one high resolution image in a new window)

Date :	2024-02-01, 2024-02-03, 2024-02-04
Time (UT) :	-

Exp. time :	70x120 seconds, iso1600
Image process tool :	Siril, Gimp, Irfanview
Processing :	calibration bias, flat and astro metric color
Weather :	Clear sky, temperature -5o C

Comment :

Continue to add more exposures, three nights with 2 hours and 20 minutes of exposure. The noise is even more reduced with that.

M97 2024-02-04, crop (Click on the image and get one high resolution image in a new window)

Date :	2024-02-04
Time (UT) :	19:02 - 21:15

Exp. time :	37x120 seconds, iso1600
Image process tool :	Siril, Gimp, Irfanview
Processing :	calibration bias, flat and astro metric color
Weather :	Clear sky, temperature -1o C

Comment :

One more night with clear sky. Some problem with the guide camera and I had to go back to the Ekos internal guider. This night I could use 37 photos compare to the night before when I only got 28 photos. Not big difference but it can be seen that it has less noise. Later when I got more photos I can stack them all.

M97 2024-02-03, crop (Click on the image and get one high resolution image in a new window)

Date :	2024-02-03
Time (UT) :	17:59 - 19:54

Exp. time :	28x120 seconds, iso1600, of these 28 only 18 could be used
Image process tool :	Siril, Gimp, Irfanview
Processing :	calibration bias, flat and astro metric color
Weather :	Clear sky, temperature +5o C

Comment :

New for this photo is that I use the PHD2 software to control the auto guiding. More because I had some problem with the guide camera. A side effect of that was that I got better precision on the guiding and then sharper stars. The three stars inside the nebula can clearly be seen. The noise is less because of twice the exposure time. If I collect 2 or 4 hour of exposure time it will be fine, I can add them from different nights.

M97 2024-01-05, crop

Date :	2024-01-05
Time (UT) :	20:05 - 20:41

Exp. time :	26x60 seconds, iso1600
Image process tool :	Siril, Gimp, Irfanview
Processing :	calibration bias, flat and astro metric color
Weather :	Thin clouds, quarter Moon, temperature -12o C

Comment :

The clouds was against me and I only got a few photos. Very noisy because of the short exposure time, needs at least 4 hours. But what I can see is that the focuser has worked pretty well.

M97 2023-10-13, crop (Click on image to get one in full resolution in a new window)

Date :	2023-10-13
Time (UT) :	00:07 - 01:17

Exp. time :	44x60 seconds, iso1600
Image process tool :	Siril, Gimp, Irfanview
Processing :	cal bias, flat and astro metric color calibration
Weather :	Thin clouds 25% during night

Comment :

Planetary nebulas are small objects, a few arc minutes wide. It's preferable to have long focal lengths, 2000 mm or so. In this case I use my 300 mm lens. Other exciting objects can be identified on this plate solved image: M97 Astrometry.

M97 2023-10-13, crop & Zoom 2x

Date :	2023-10-13
Time (UT) :	00:07 - 01:17
Comment :	Zoom in at 2x on the cropped image and crank up the color saturation. The color is easy to see but very noisy. A 3 hour exposure had been better. Planetary nebulas is the left over from an exploded star, the stars particles are like a big cloud where the once was. Compare with photos below taken with different focal lenghts.

M97 2020-01-22, TS130 910 mm (Click on image for a full resolution, opens in a new window)

Date :	2020-01-22
Time (UT) :	20:32 - 22:40

Exp. time :	42 x 60 seconds + 16 x 120 seconds at ISO1600 (HDR), dithering mode
Image process tool :	AstroImageJ, Fitswork, Irfanview
Processing :	Flat calibrated, high contrast, gamma 5, level, color, noise filter
Weather :	Clear sky, temperature +2o C

Comment :

This night the sky was darker than what I normally have. Look how the noise goes down. There is a galaxy too in the image: galaxy M108. The back ground is much better this time, less light pollution and a noise filter applied in the image process. The whole field that the telescope deliver to a full frame camera, 3 x 2 degrees, as you see the planetary nebula is very small. The image consist of two different exposures times to achieve a better dynamic, HDR photo.

M97 2020-01-08, TS130 910 mm (Click on image for a full resolution, opens in a new window)

Date :	2020-01-08
Time (UT) :	20:39 - 23:31

Exp. time :	120 x 60 seconds, dithering mode
Image process tool :	AstroImageJ, Fitswork, Irfanview
Processing :	Flat calibrated, high contrast, gamma 5, level, color, noise filter
Weather :	Clear sky, temperature +2o C

Comment :

Here I got a lot of exposure, 2 hours in total. It helps to reduce the noise.

M97 2019-01-20, TS130 910 mm

Date :	2019-01-20
Time (UT) :	--

Exp. time :	228x30 second ISO1600
Image process tool :	AstroImageJ, Fitswork, Irfanview
Processing :	crop 1:1, resize, stretch, flatten
Weather :	Clear sky

Comment :

New test, this time I reduce the sub image exposure to 30 second and took 228 photos of the object. It looks very noisy, better to try ISO 1600 or ISO3200 next time which give lower readout noise, but will also reduce the dynamic range a lot. A telescope with a focal length of 2000 mm had also been good.

M97 2017-12-21, TS130 910 mm

Date :	2017-12-21
Time (UT) :	--

Exp. time :	65x60 second ISO800 + 21x60 second ISO1600 (HDR), dithering mode
Image process tool :	AstroImageJ, Fitswork, Irfanview
Processing :	crop 1:1, resize, stretch, flatten
Weather :	a bit foggy but otherwise clear

Comment :

My first image with my new setup with the 3" field flattener. Not very big success with the cleaning of the sensor, no flat field calibration at this stage. A planetary nebula is the left over from an old stellar explosion. The galaxy upper right corner is M108.

M97 2017-12-21, TS130 910 mm

Comment :

With a noise filter and flatten of the background it looks like this

M97, TS130 682 mm, test with three different lenses, test 1.

Date :	2015-11-21
Time (UT) :	--

Exp. time :	22x60 second, ISO800, dithering mode
Image process tool :	Fitswork, Irfanview
Processing :	crop, resize, stretch, flatten
Weather :	clear

Comment :

Three test photos with three different lenses and telescope. shot from my balcony, very light polluted sky. A planetary nebula is the left over from an old stellar explosion. The galaxy upper right corner is M108.

M97, Pentax 500 mm, test with three different lenses, test 2.

Date :	2013-11-28
Time (UT) :	--

Exp. time :

30x60 second, ISO1000

M97, Pentax 165 mm, test with three different lenses, test 3.

Date :	2013-11-25
Time (UT) :	--

Exp. time :

25x30 second, ISO1000

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