This image was taken at the prime focus of my 8" f10 LX 200.    I was surprised regarding how bright this planetary is.  I could easily see it in my 30 sec exposure first look image.    This a composite of one 2 minute exposure for the planetary and a five minute exposure for the background stars.  The images were blended together in Photoshop using a Gaussian Blur mask.  The blending technique is described by Jerry Lodriguss.    Click here to go back.