Helix Nebula in Aquarius, 650ly

This object rises early in the SE. Because of my living in the mountains it is only possible to photograph the object till 1 in the morning and then the trees block the view. The object is located at -21deg in the night sky.

This is a classic planetary nebula that is actually an exploded sun, a dying star. If you look closely you will see more of the explosion on the right side (hard to see red). This is actually a very small object in the night sky, 25” x 13”. Believe it or not this is actually large for a planetary nebula because this one, at 650ly away, is one of the closest planetary nebulae in the Milky Way. It is sometimes labeled as the Eye of God or the Eye of Sauron.

Using mono and a telescope with a 120mm objective lens makes it possible to get a pic of this quality in less time than using an OSC.

AskarV@600f7.5, 2600MM Pro g100. [24.1hrs total] R:96x300s G:95x300s B:98x300s
+darks/biases/flats.
AM5/ASIair+, EAF, Askar OAG with ASI174mini for guiding

PixInsight 100%.

Because this object was photographed in RGB it was relatively simple to develop. The natural colors are very interesting for this object.