I wasn't planning to image tonight, but I got home from the football game and saw my old friends the Pleiades in the sky for the first time this season and decided conditions were just too good to waste. Besides, my scope was already configured for this shot so it was easy to go out. The Pleiades are just about the easiest target on the list as far as finding goes. I'm not running my chiller tonight because I want to avoid icing the sensor and I have not yet bought desiccant to put in it, 8-6.5 °C. The more I use PHD 2 the more I like it. I have been having a few USB cable issues tonight so I've had to stop and reconnect a couple of times. Still some funny star colors (what do you expect with a cheap scope?), but this is my best Pleiades so far.
Date: 28 Sep 2013
Subject: M45, The Pleiades
Scope: Orion ST80 + Antares 0.5x focal reducer (on 1” nosepiece, so ~0.65x)
Filter: Baader UHC-S
Mount: CG-5 (Synta motors)
Guiding: 9x50 Finder/Guider + DSI Ic + PHD 2.1.1a
Camera: DSI IIc (no chiller 6-8 °C)
Acquisition: Nebulosity 3.1.8, no dither
Exposure: 66x300 s
Stacking: Neb 3, bad pixel map, bias included, normalize first, trans+rot align, 1.5 SD stack.
Processing: StarTools 1.3.5.255 Crop; Wipe:Color & Brightness; Autodev; Deconvolute 2.3 pix; Sharpen; HDR
ptimize; Color:True Color, Cap Green to Yellow, Dark Sat Full, Bright Sat Full, Sat 132%, Red Bias Reduce 1.15; Life:Moderate; Track Denoise; Magic:Tighten 1. CS6+Astronomy Tools Increase Star Color; Less Crunchy More Fuzzy; Healing Brush; AstroFrame.
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