Thor’s Helmet is an emission nebula — ionized gas emitting light of different wavelengths — that is 12,000 light years away and roughly 30 light years across. I captured this image using an ORION 8″ Newtonian telescope with a QSI683 scientific camera. It was one of the first uses of the big, heavy QSI camera and the rather frail ORION telescope. The weight of the camera caused quite a bend in the focuser and body of the telescope causes the skewed stars. You know what this means? … It mean’s I need a better telescope!
Captured from San Jose in 2015 using ORION brand narrowband filters. The image was constructed using:
Not bad for a first attempt, but that’s also hardly any data to be working with. I’d love another chance to image this with my current setup in 2020.
