M101 or Markarian? Or?

[DaveS]

Can anyone help me decide.

It looks like we may have a clear slot tomorrow night and I'd like to start a new project. The two possibilities are M101 which will require me to swap the reducer in my 130 f/7 for a plain flattener to get the image scale I want, or Markarian's Chain which I can do with the Megrez 90 and ASI1600.

Against this, Markarian's Chain will have me looking through the worst of my LP, right over a big retail park, and will be low in the sky (Though no worse than the Leo Triplet which I've already had a go at). M101 on the other hand will be in an area of lower LP and will be climbing high.

The "Zero Option" will be to leave the 130 set up with the reducer and get more RGB data on the aforementioned Leo Triplet, which currently has only 1 hour 40 mins in each channel plus 1 hour H-alpha.

Dunno....

[StuartJPP]

I once met a wildlife photographer who said..."It is better to take one nice image than 50 okay images"...so with that I'd try to collect as much data as feasible on the Leo Triplet and "complete" it before moving on to the next target.

[DaveS]

I think you're right, though whether any astro image can ever be "completed" is a moot point.

Leo Triplet it is then, and I'll worry about the others later.