M35 and The Jellyfish

[Scooot]

 

This is about 5.75 hours of lights taken over the 3rd & 4th with the baby tak and Asi2600MC osc. 
It’s the first time I used PI’s separate debayering and stacking of the RGB channels which worked quite well. I’ve downsampled it by 3.

NGC 2158 is just to right of M35, the bright star is 3.3 & 6.15 mag Propus although you can’t tell it’s a double in this image. PI counted about 49,000 stars  

I knew the Jellyfish is very faint so I wasn’t sure what to expect when I set out to take this. On the first night I missed it completely in the frame but I’m pleased I persevered with it. 

Edited November 6, 2021 by Scooot

[MartinB]

Spectacular image Richard, what great framing!

[Scooot]

Thanks Martin, pleased you like it. 
I managed to get the framing right in the end with the help of ASIairs plate solve and annotation, I took a screen shot on my iPad see below. I had to get up for the meridian flip because it didn’t realign correctly on the first night. Quite enjoyed trying to capture this though.  

[MartinB]

Were you using ASIair for the flip.  What was the problem?  I've just ordered one having encountered endless problems platesolving in with SGP and platesolve 2

[Scooot]

29 minutes ago, MartinB said:

Were you using ASIair for the flip.  What was the problem?  I've just ordered one having encountered endless problems platesolving in with SGP and platesolve 2

Yes. I don’t think the problem was with the ASIair.

After the flip M35 was a bit lower in the frame so I was cutting off part of the Jellyfish. My mount was set up on my stony path in the garden, EQ35 and it’s difficult to get my head over the bubble to check how level it is. My Polar alignment was to about 0.7” and guiding was around 1” but I noticed the target had drifted a little in the subs leading up to the flip. I’d been using a 10 pixel dither so maybe that was part of the problem or maybe my mount wasn’t quite level? I’m not experienced enough to know. It wasn’t very much but enough to be annoying.

If my target was in the centre of the image it wouldn’t have been a problem, but because both were near the edge of the frame it was a bit more critical.

The plate solve with Asiair is very good, the goto usually puts the target very near the centre. If I want it dead centre I only need to press goto again and it’ll be spot on. 

Edited November 8, 2021 by Scooot

[Scooot]

@MartinB

Here, I didn't want to give you bad information so I've had another look. Here is the last image before the flip and the first after. This is why I got up for the flip on the second night. looking at these there doesn't seem to be much drift leading up to the flip after all so I put it down to my mount not being as level as it could be, but I don't know.

Next time I get a chance I'll have another look and let you know the results.

Edited November 8, 2021 by Scooot