| 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 arc-minutes 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.