First observation of this object. It reminds me of the Iris Nebula, but it's the wrong color as it shines mostly in Hα rather than by reflection like the Iris. So this nebula looks more like a rose. I’m starting to stray a lot from the "Top 100" list, and this is a foray away from it. Synched from α Per and found on the first try with the PicGoto. The core of the nebula is visible even at 2 s in the imager, but the fringes are much fainter. Not many bright stars in my field of view either, but without trouble I did find a guide star bright enough for my usual 1 s guide exposures. Chiller at 2.5 A, 11 °C. Before I went to bed I noticed the guider was having some trouble keeping the guide star aligned in Dec, and I should have paid attention because shortly thereafter the problem became severe. I think the Dec clutch was probably slipping, but in any event I got a lot less data than I had planned to get. Eventually, the whole session hung because the USB connection dropped. I need to solve that problem!
Added a little more contrast enhancement in the revision.
Date: 10 Oct 2014
Subject: Sh2-206 / NGC 1491
Scope: Astrotech AT8IN + 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, 11.5-9.0 °C
Acquisition: Nebulosity 3.2.1, no dither
Exposure: 20x600 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; Develop 50%; HDR
ptimize; Life:Moderate; Track Grain size 5.0 pix; Magic:Shrink 1 pix. Photoshop CC 2014 + Carboni Astronomy Tools deep space noise reduction, Hα false color; Astro Frame.
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