|
A Quick M42 in Sydney Last Night
I was undecided about setting up or not yesterday afternoon until the clouds dispersed after dinner and left a nice clear blue sky around 7pm ( CFN is not very reliable after the Local forecast model was taken away last year and it showed cloud from late afternoon ) Will I or won’t I , bugger it , so I set up which normally takes me a leisurely 2 hours but yesterday evening took me an hour and a half
I was polar aligned by 9.20pm and framed up and focused on M42 just past the Meridian
Captured only 5 x 180sec subs as the cloud did roll in from the west / south west ( sub 4 and sub 5 were cloud affected by high wispy cloud )
Scope: 6” f6 Bintel newt
Mount: EQ6-R pro
Imaging Camera : ZWOASI2600MC Ascom control set at Lowest Read Noise ( Gain 100 ) cooled to -12C
No filter used - under Bortle 8 skies ( no moon around )
Goto and Navigation EQMOD And Ascom Stellarium
APT Frame focus and capture
PHD2 guiding at 1.2 arc sec error ( dithered subs )
Only 5 x 180sec dithered guided subs ( 15mins integration)
No darks
No flats
Stacked in DSS ( Average )
Processed in Startools V1.6
Original Frame version
Crop version showing nebulosity detail
Core a bit blown out ( should have used my ZWO Duoband filter and set the camera to Highest Dynamic Range ( Gain 0 ) which resolves the core and exposes the trap stars really well without the need of Layering techniques
One of the shortest and rushed imaging sessions I’ve ever done
Comments Welcome !
|