Deep Sky NGC6997 N. America Nebula

[OhNo]

Gain:   101
Offset:   50
Exposure Time:   240 seconds
Camera Temp:   -15 °C
Camera:   ASI533MC P

Quick session before the sky threw up. This is a 4 panel mosaic with 2-240 second images per frame. Shot at Gain 101 Offset 50 with a ASI533MC P.

NGC6997 North America by Brent Secord, on Flickr

 

[Tracy]

Ackkkk.... do I see that those nasty satellites came in for an attack!
This is always a worry for me as most of the targets I prefer seem to have frequent visits by them.

Great image.
I found an optical train issue with my setup (the focuser was loose on the tube) so I dumped ALL the data I have captured since early December (when I basically started doing captures) and am starting over fresh, as I have no real idea when the problem presented itself... it was most likely after adding the Pegasus Falcon to the train. I roughly trashed over 320GB of data. I had been noticing some artifacts in my older data that was not present in the data I have captured since I found the issue... so to be on the safe side... delete all!
So, that's why I haven't posted anything new lately.

Just as an aside to newbies like me... be SURE to double check your optical train to be sure it's "tight" before starting captures. ASSuming can result in a loss of a LOT of data that you are not sure about.

 

[OhNo]

Caught me! I used APP to put this one together prior to foolin' around in Pix. I didn't use any darks or flats. APP usually does a pretty good job on satellites IF ya give it half a chance. There was one image with 5 dim sats and one big bright one in the lower righthand corner.

The vertical seams are also visible. I believe this is caused by the difference in the sky between panels. I had my guiding re-calibrate on every slew, as opposed to ""Using Last Calibration when possible" that in combination with the panel plate solving all adds up to potential for stuff to change. I through trial and error have found that if I set StellarMate to only focus IF the temperature changes by 3 degrees it will auto re-focus.

Now here is something really odd, when I use the scheduler to run the show, it almost always accomplishes the assigned task better that IF I am around riding herd on it. LOL I am the issue now the program!!!!! That said there are some things I just can't figure out why they did it that way. I suspect the 'puter program types might need to actually use their wares a bit more out under a night sky. Nothing ticks me off more than when they say "it worked fine in the simulator".

 

[OhNo]

Doubled the ToT.