First observation of the Soul Nebula; I chose it over the Heart because it looks like it will fit in my field of view slightly better. This is also my first use of the Hα filter with the ST-80 scope. Synched from ε Cas and the PicGoto put the Soul in the field of view on the first try. It took me a while to recognize I was there because the cameras on the ST-80 are oriented 180° from the orientation I use on the AT8IN and I didn't realize that at first. Cool, clear, calm evening. Chiller at 2.5 A, currently 3.5 °C. Guiding looks good enough for this imaging scale. Focusing was hard; I did it through the filter looking at the Moon and hope that will be adequate. My guide scope image is blurry: either out of focus or there's dew on the objective (I think probably I messed up the focus in moving the guider to the ST-80, but they say PHD performs a little better when a little out of focus. We'll see.) Very little differential flexure with this setup until the mount started bumping; then it jumped pretty well.
Date: 1 Oct 2014
Subject: Sh2-199 / IC 1848, Soul Nebula
Scope: Orion ST-80 + Antares 0.5x telereducer
Filter: Baader Hα
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, 3.5 to -1 °C
Acquisition: Nebulosity 3.2.1, no dither
Exposure: 39x600 s
Stacking: Neb 3, bad pixel map, bias included, no flats, OSC red channel extract, normalize, square, trans+rot align, 1.5 SD stack.
Processing: StarTools 1.3.5.289 Crop; Autodev; HDR
ptimize; Deconvolute 3.0 pix; Life:Less is more; Track Grain size 5.0 pix, Smoothness 50%; Magic:Shrink 1 pix. Photoshop CC 2014 + Carboni Astronomy Tools Hα false color; Astro Frame.
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