Hi all
The sky was clear overnight but transparency was pretty bad. It just wasn't very dark. It was very dewey, too!
I didn't drift align at all, just put the EQ6 down on the pavers where the marks are. This again limited me to 30s exposures. I need to spend some time drift aligning so I can go longer and deeper. I'll go to Dick Smith today and buy some replacement batteries for my illuminated reticle (yes, they're flat again
).
Saxon ED80 on EQ6 with Canon 350D at prime focus.
21x 30s exposures (added in ImagesPlus) @ ISO1600, ICNR on, mirror lockup on.
Core masked using an average of the 21 exposures, and the trap masked using an average of 3x 10s exposures.
I composed the shot to include the open cluster at the bottom, but it didn't really add anything to the shot. Next time I'll center it on M42 itself.
I think this is better (just slightly) than my first M42, but there's not a lot in it. I need longer exposures, it's as simple as that.
Thanks for looking.