I chose M8 to get RGB data in preparation for H-alpha work; this is a bright target, and my scope is very fast with the focal reducer so it should be a good place to start H-alpha. I didn't want to do H-alpha on such a dark Moonless night, however. I did a lot of playing around collecting test data for Astrotortilla; hopefully I'll be able to find proper conditions to get it to work. I had to reduce to 120 s subframes to avoid blowing out the core of the nebula. There is some wind tonight and some clouds. Chiller at 2.5 A gives 15 °C. I finally made a new set of darks to generate a bad pixel map to use with this image.
Date: 30 Jul 2014
Subject: M8, Lagoon Nebula
Scope: AT8IN+Antares 0.5x focal reducer
Filter: Meade IR cut
Mount: CG-5 (Synta motors, PicGoto Simplificado)
Guiding: 9x50 Finder/Guider + DSI Ic + PHD 2.3.0 (Win 7 ASCOM)
Camera: DSI IIc chiller at 2.50 A, 15 °C
Acquisition: Nebulosity 3.2.0, no dither
Exposure: 55x120 s
Stacking: Neb 3, bad pixel map, bias included, normalize first, trans+rot align, 1.5 SD stack.
Processing: StarTools 1.3.5.279 Crop; Wipe:Color & brightness 81%; Develop 80.11%; HDR:Core reveal; save; undo; HDR
ptimize; Color:Scientific, 250%; Deconvolute auto mask 1.5 pix; Life:Moderate; Track RNC 1.47%; Magic:Shrink 1 pix; to the Core Reveal image: Color:Scientific, 250%; Deconvolute auto mask 2.5 pix; Life:Moderate; Track RNC 1.72%; Magic:Shrink 1 pix; CS6 Astronomy Tools layer the HDR
ptimize image on top of the HDR:Core Reveal with 85% opacity; Increase star color; Astro Frame
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