| Telescope / Lens | TEC 140mm f/7 |
| Mount Type | Astro-Physics 1200 |
| Camera | ST8XME |
| Filters | Astro-Don LRGB |
| Film | CCD – KAF 1602E 13.8 mm x 9.2 mm |
| Exposure | LRGB 130 minuets -20° C |
| Processing | CCDSoft, AIP4Win, CCDStack & Photoshop CS2 |
| Date | 8-15-2007 |
| Location | June Mountain, near Dexter, Oregon 122° 43.53 W 43° 48.41′ N |
| Conditions | 3252′ magnitude 6.2 Skies; Clear & Steady |
Helix Nebula NGC 7293, a planetary nebula in the constellation Aquarius, 714 Light years away. Discovered by Karl Ludwig in 1824. The helix Nebula formed when an intermediate low-mass star sheds it’s outer layers, leaving a remnant stellar core which will become a White Dwarf star. Helix is 25 arcminutes in diameter, the outer layer is estimated to have formed 6,500 years ago, while the inner region 12,000 years ago.
This image was taken with a 5.5 inch Tech Engineering refractor on an Astro-Physics 1200 mount from a remote Dark Sky Site. All the equipment had to be setup and calibrated for that location.
An SBIG (Diffraction Limited) NABG CCD Camera, color filter-wheel (CFW8a) using Astro-Don Generation 1 true balance Luminance, Red, Green & Blue filters were used to capture the light channels which were combined to form a color image.