Last nights offerings: M27 + M101 SN

[Uranium235]

Last night was the first decent bit of clear sky for quite a while. Despite the wind, I was determined to get something. So I started off by lowering the mount to take advantage of the fence, which seemed to do the trick in sheltering it from the occasional gust.

Then 7 short subs into SN101, the netbook power supply decided to die so I lost about half an hour trying to figure out what had happened. So after deciding it was a no go, I hooked up the backup laptop and was up and running again - by which time M101 had dipped behind some trees. So the M101 pic is a bit shabby (and out of focus) to say the least. Even so, the supernova seems to have noticeably brightened quite a bit since it was first spotted.

Didnt really know what to go for, so I picked M27 becuase I wanted to see if I could get that infamous "skirt" of Ha. Ive just about started to detect it, but its going to take more (long) subs to give it definition... probably 4 or 5 hours worth.

Once I have enough data I shouldnt need to stretch it so much either. Anyway, it was nice to be "back in the saddle" as it were

More clear sky please!

M27: Dumbell Nebula

ED80 (0.85x), Atik 314L+

8x600, 3x900, 1x1200 (Ha)

Thanks for looking

Rob

[Tim]

Good start.

To get real detail in the ha and Oiii skirts try 30 mins subs. But nihgts like last night wash out that very faint stuff.

The SN is still very bright isn't it, nice capture

[Uranium235]

Cheers!

1800 seconds is a bit brave for my mount, maybe even foolhardy

Will give it a go anyway, just punched in 1800 for the next round... this is going to be one long wait!

Not convinced on the sky quality tonight though, seems a bit misty.

Edit: 1800 didnt work, its just too risky with this mount - 20min is usually my limit.

[Tim]

Whats the problem with it? After 20 mins you will have had at least three worm cycles to contend with, another couple shouldnt hurt? Unless the alignment isn't very close to perfect? To get really long subs you need to be very accurate with polar aligning. But once you get that its just a case of running it really. I played with some 2 hour long subs a little while ago

[Uranium235]

After the half hour, there was quite a bit of trailing. For some reason my RA axis was playing up, which is unusual - quite a lot of oscillation going on.

Having said that, this is only the second night that Ive tried the mount at a lower height - and I hadnt yet drilled the holes in the patio for the mount leg tips (so I always put it in the same place/orientation). It must have been PA, becuase last nights subs were not as good as the previous evening (when it was windy).

It makes me wish for a faster telescope becuase then I wouldnt need to give the wee CG5 so much work, but having thought about reliability I really do need a beefier mount - then I can go for 30min without being so nervous about it.

Anyways, to finish of the session I grabbed some OIII so I could get some colour into it. Processing was tricky, all sorts of photoshop jiggery pokery to try and bring through more of the Ha skirt. Still needs more subs, but Im itching to move on