Some gusty wind early (probably canyon breeze). Had to wait for Brown's tree to get out of the way before I could start. USB connections dropped and Windows crashed after the first hour and a half, but restarted and went to bed, expecting the mount to bump around 3:30 AM. However, it missed and imaging continued all the way until dawn. This must get the name “Phantom Galaxy” because its surface brightness is so low, but it was easy to find with the PicGoto from β Ari; the goto was dead center.
Date: 23 Sep 2014
Subject: M74, “Phantom Galaxy”
Scope: AT8IN
Filter: Baader Fringe Killer
Mount: CG-5 (Synta motors, PicGoto Simplificado)
Guiding: 9x50 Finder/Guider + DSI Ic + PHD 2.3.1 (Win 7 ASCOM)
Camera: DSI IIc chiller at 2.50 A, 15-9 °C
Acquisition: Nebulosity 3.2.1, no dither
Exposure: 69x300 s
Stacking: Neb 3, bad pixel map, bias included, no flats, normalize first, trans+rot align, 1.5 SD stack.
Processing: StarTools 1.3.5.289 Crop; Wipe:Color & brightness 75%; AutoDev with ROI; HDR
ptimize; Color:Scientific, 300%; Life:Moderate; Deconvolute auto mask 2.3 pix; Track Grain size 5.2 pix; Magic:Shrink 1 pix. Photoshop CC 2014 + Carboni Astronomy Tools Healing brush; Deep space noise reduction; Space noise reduction; Layer masked levels; Increase star color; Astro Frame.
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