Synched on Albireo then did the goto M27 with the PicGoto. Outstanding conditions. I put the scope near the house hoping to block the wind gusts I've had the last few sessions, but there are no gusts tonight. I'm getting the best guiding performance I think I've ever gotten. The mount is west-weighted; my mount seems to perform much better that way than east-weighted (or I've misunderstood and done it backward all along, but I don't think that's the case). I'm also using much higher aggressiveness (90%) and lower hysteresis (5%) on RA than usual. Finally, this is first light for the newest version of PHD2 (2.3.0). Chiller at 2.5 A, currently 10.5 °C. I had hoped to get a little more internal structure in the nebula, but this is still far better than my last attempt.
Date: 30 Jun 2014
Subject: M27, Dumbbell Nebula
Scope: AT8IN
Filter: none
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, ~10 °C
Acquisition: Nebulosity 3.2.0, no dither
Exposure: 64x300 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 75%; Develop 82.26%; HDR
ptimize; Color:Scientific, 200%; Deconvolute auto mask 2.7 pix; HDR
ptimize; Life:Moderate; Track RNC 1.96%; Magic:Shrink 1 pix; Save; 2nd layer: HDR Reveal Core. CS6 Astronomy Tools Layer the Reveal Core layer under the other, top layer 60% opacity; Increase star color; Make stars smaller; Less crunchy more fuzzy; Astro Frame.
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