Scope: C8 f/5; Location: Blair Valley Anza Borrego Desert, CA; 20 Mar. 2004; Camera: ToUcam SC3
Exposure: 10 x 150 sec Luminance exposures with Baader IR Block Filter; 6 x 100 sec RGB
Processing: Images were captured in K3CCDTools. Aligned/stacked in Registax and saved as FITS. Luminance and Color channels were scaled and rough color balanced in Astroart. Channels were co-registered in Astroart. Luminance and Color FITS were combined in Photoshop with Luminance Layering. Color balancing and final touches in Photoshop. SGBNR was used to smooth background noise on the luminance channel and the final result.
This image was taken with fairly good conditions at a dark site. This is a guided image. The pronounced central region feature (the "black eye") for
which this object is named is very noticeable. I was also pleased to capture a hint of spiral arm structure in the surrounding disk. Horizontal FOV is 16'