What'cha capturing tonight?

[Tracy]

Me, finally got all the computer work done that I had to do and have a decent night out... so starting out with NGC-7000.
Doing 4x300s red, 4x300s blue, 4x300 second green, 5x300s HA/OIII/SII and 7 300s luminance @ 101 gain/50 offset to start with. No moon up tonight. Then, if time allows after that it will be my first try at starting a mosaic of Andromeda since the ASI533MM Pro sensor can't encompass it in all it's glory at one go.

 

[OhNo]

IC342 300 seconds at Gain 101, offset 50 witha ASI533MC P Currently have caught 36 captures.

 

[Tracy]

IC342 300 seconds at Gain 101, offset 50 witha ASI533MC P Currently have caught 36 captures.

Ended up with the RA & DEC going wonky when I was almost shooting straight up.... so decided to just do a quick capture of what my camera can grab of M31. Now I'm working on a few captures of the Pleiades to start my data pool. I would capture more tonight, but I have an appointment at 10:30am, and still have about 1.5 hours of capture to do.

 

[Tracy]

Sitting watching my M_74 captures... and realized, I have had my first photo-bomb from a satellite!
What was funny was when I was working with the mount 2 star alignment using Caph as my first star, I had a few zip through the 1 second captures I was doing while using the camera and SM for the alignments. But this is the first (probably of many) in an actual capture.

EDIT:
Lucky me.... now 2 frames have satellites passing through them!

 

[OhNo]

Pix or APP will handle them. I had 8 in a single 5 minute image tonight. You'll learn where the majority of 'em will be! Just part of the game......

 

[Tracy]

Pix or APP will handle them. I had 8 in a single 5 minute image tonight. You'll learn where the majority of 'em will be! Just part of the game......

Yeah, M_74 is in a part of the sky I haven't shot before because it's basically only planets that come up in that zone for me.
I still have to learn the programs... figured capture data while the capturing is good, then I can process it later.

 

[Tracy]

Now trying to grab some of M_81 before the sun comes up. It only rises to where I can get it about 2 hours before sunrise....

 

[Tracy]

No capturing so far tonight, even though it's a good night. Busily working on trying to get my RA/DEC RMS down to as low as possible by adjusting the scope/weight positions.

Now, want to hear a funny? Last night I was doing the same... and noticed what looked like dew on the images as I was messing with captures of the guide scope. Checked the dew heaters... they were working fine. Checked the lenses... they were fine....

Finally decided to look where the scope was pointed.... and it was at the edge of a tree in my front yard! The leaves were what I thought was dew buildup!

 

[Tracy]

Think I got the new Stellarmate issues lined out... and have grabbed
6x240s Luminance
4x240s RGB
5x240s SII, OIII, Ha
of M81 to add to the other captures I've gotten since I get limited hours.
There is just something about M81/M82 I like... guess it's the positioning of two galaxies in the same frame, and the offset of one edge on and the other at an almost flat on view.

 

[Tracy]

One last huzzah with the old mount on the ZenithStar tonight. Shooting NGC 2403. Was playing around with exposure times, and seems that a 300s gave me a LOT more detail on it than 240s did, so that's what I'm shooting. Still have about 57 minutes to go.
Only problem is the wind is starting to pick up, so my almost overloaded mount is being taxed at times.

 

[Tracy]

Tonight it's strictly M31 - not in mosaic, just trying to get enough captures to play with so that I get good data. Already got 2 1/2 hours worth, planning another hour or so.

 

[Tracy]

Back to IC_1871 tonight. Going to try to get another couple of hours worth to add the what I already have. Found that in addition to the narrowband for this nebula, LRGB is also handy as there is structure that shows up in luminance also.

 

[Stan]

I'm trying a quick 4 panel mosaic of the Sadr region in Ha to test out my settings before the clouds roll in. 3-4 minute frames per panel

 

[Tracy]

Playing with the Wizard Nebula tonight. Want to try to get data from several different structures as tonight and tomorrow night are supposed to be clear, then we have rain coming into the picture for a few days.... so I can play with processing them then.
Once I get a little more comfortable with this mount (which I LOVE) I'm going to start trying to do some mosaics..

 

[OhNo]

I am on the third target to the West tonight....

 

[Tracy]

Somebody shoot the moon down. It's ruining my night. Seeing is horrible (1.8 according to Good to Stargaze). Can't even get enough stars in the guide scope. Of course, I got to wonder if it may be due to the new EkosLive update that got pushed out also. Can't hit IC_1871 nor even NGC_6720 which is away from it.
Then to top it off, on a 60 second exposure the camera stops about 1/2 way through the time.

 

[OhNo]

Ironically the 8th of November is the last Blood Moon until 2025. Kind of ironic at what else happens that day!

 

[Tracy]

No captures tonight.

 

[Tracy]

After about an hour of dorkign around with StellarMate OS (the latest and greatest including the new EQMod driver update) I was FINALLY able to get it to locate the Owl Cluster (NGC_457) and start some LRGB captures. I'm trying shorter exposure times this go around (90 seconds) with more exposures, but still using a gain setting of 101 and offset of 50.
I'm hoping that shorter exposure times may reduce the "blow-up" stars that I sometimes get in my longer captures.

EDIT:
So far, I'm up to 55 LRGB's of NGX_457.... and plan to add around 30-40 more if things go well.
Then depending on time and FOV may start some NGC_281.
We've got another front scheduled in tomorrow and a few more days of clouds/rain.

 

[OhNo]

I shot NGC1499 (California Nebula) in a 4 panel mosaic with a Ha filter. The transparency was below average and seeing was Poor! And it shows. Was a lot of work getting the image to not display the overlap seams caused by variable sky conditions.

 

[Tracy]

I shot NGC1499 (California Nebula) in a 4 panel mosaic with a Ha filter. The transparency was below average and seeing was Poor! And it shows. Was a lot of work getting the image to not display the overlap seams caused by variable sky conditions.

It's really nice out tonight other than being "chilly" for Texas... seems like I'm getting some GREAT captures, even with the 5.1 Bortle area and a 4,6 light pollution index by Good to StarGaze. Transparency is at 0.1 and seeing is at 2.1 with a 2% overcast condition.
According to it... the reason it's "not good to stargaze" is the windchill is at 37°. Of course, with the automated system... that doesn't affect me!
The trees blocked my NGC_547, so now I'm shooting the Beehive cluster (NGC_2632).

 

[Tracy]

Nice night out tonight, other than the dew buildup this early in the night (thank goodness for the dew shield and heaters).
Shooting IC-1871 again trying some different settings on the camera. Hooked the new auto-rotator up and the EAF steps for focus went from the 2100 range to 3300... but got good focus, and that's not much on the scope focuser itself as it's on around 30 marking and it can go up to 90.

I think I'm really going to like this auto-rotator.

 

[OhNo]

Horizontal snowflakes and the new neighbor.

 

[Tracy]

Surprisingly nice crisp night tonight. So far:
M81
30 120s L
25 120s R
25 120s G
25 120s B

I would have done more, but the DEC was wonky once more on the mount... figured out that the Pegasus Falcon has thrown it so that I can't effectively balance the scope with the adjustment available with the Vixen bar, so next project is a weight to add to the lens end. Currently I'm doing some country boy engineering by using a welding clamp to counter-balance and it's doing rather well.

 

[OhNo]

7 targets, but it's bedtime...