A Moonlit Crab :)

[Paul M]

I had so many plans last night. Main target was to test run a mosaic imaging plan for M31 I'd pu together using HNSky and APT. It looked good on paper but, well, you know!  I'll try another idea next time.

So what to do, out all night, watched the full Moon rise in the east and set in the west. And in between it was a 'mare. The sky in the area of Taurus/Auriga seemed to be the darkest on offer so M1 came to mind. Could have done to have mt ASI178 camera to hand, with my 10" Newt it's gives a perfect image scale for M1.

The ASI071 gives a much wider view that M1 gets a bit lost in, and with binning 3x3 there isn't much to home in on. Anyway, here we have 31 x 180 sec, through an Optolong L-Pro filter. Captured with APT and guided with PHD2. All stacking and processing, including gradient removal, was done with ASTAP, perfect for a lazy image processor such as myself!  

M1 was one of the first DSO's I ever saw through a scope and remains a firm favorite. I think next time I'll do it justice with the other camera.

[Stargazer33]

That's nice. You've retained the star colours very well. 

I've had many a night like yours; only without the positive outcome at the end!