Current work in progress. 6.66hrs lum on m78.

[AlexN]

Here's the current state of my spring/summer project.

Whilst this is far better than I'd expected given my bortle4/5 back yard, my goal is double this amount of lum, then I will add a couple of hours of R/G/B data to finish it off...

Askar 65PHQ
SBIG ST-8300M
Baader UV/IR cut
G11 Gemini

80x300s over 3 nights during the week. Given the current weather in Brisbane, I'd imagine I won't be getting any more data until next month, though I will get more if I can before the moon ruins my fun.

See the image at Astrobin (https://www.astrobin.com/1h3due).

[strongmanmike]

Nice work Alex, looking good :thumbsup:

Mije

[AlexN]

Thanks Mike! I like how this is shaping up so far.

I'm actually thinking I'll try to get the colour data in the next session to bring it to life!

I originally thought with such a small scope at f/6.4, I'd need to get much more integration time to get anywhere near this level.

[AlexN]

Well, I finally managed to get SOME colour on this target... It's been raining here SO MUCH, I've only had the scope out twice since I posted the WIP.

Once was just a tweaking/tuning evening under a full moon getting my guiding nailed down a bit more after adding an OAG, and doing a full tear down of the mount, regreasing everything, fine tuning the worm gear meshes etc... I got it from RMS 1.3" to 0.34" (though, I think guiding at 4x the focal length with the OAG is as much the reason for that as the software/mount adjustments...)

So despite, thin, whispy high level clouds, I got 30x180s exposures with the OSC camera on Friday night, of those, 19 of them were 'good enough'

I will trash all of them when I get an ACTUAL clear night, as my FWHM's were all over the place with the clouds scooting in and out of frame... The intention is to get about 4hrs of OSC data to go with the ~7hrs of Lum from the ST8300M...

So, heres the details:
Askar 65PHQ
G11 Gemini

80x300s L - SBIG ST8300M @ -10°c
19x180s OSC - Player One Artemis C @ -15°c

30x Darks, Flats, Flat Darks for each camera.

Stacked in DSS, processed in PI and PS.

Astrobin link (https://www.astrobin.com/nfv840/)