M97 – The "Owl Nebula":

About 7000 years ago and 1500 Lightyears from here that small bluish fellow in the center of the nebula had burnt up most of his hydrogen and then puffed out his outer layers into space. The star itself was of almost the size of our sun and what you look at here is probably what will happen to our sun 5 billion years from now, when it will die.

Through a telescope this little disc looks like a planet. That's why objects of that kind are called "Planetary Nebulae". I think they are utterly beautiful.

This photo is the result of 26 subframes of 7 min. exposure (ISO800) each. What you do is, you take as much pictures as you can and "stack" them, using a special software so that the signal to noise ratio becomes better and better.

It is one of the first pictures I took. If I remember correctly it was 17° F outside and I was not then prepared to remote-control the scope. I missed the focus and the guiding failed, which is why the Stars are little circles and slightly egg-shaped, but all in all I consider this a fair try. I will try this one again properly next winter.

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