Got a late start. Solved my plate solving issue by imaging RAW, extracting the R channel, squaring the pixels, saving the file, and then doing the plate solve on the saved file. This enabled me to point the scope in the rough direction of the target, synch roughly in Cartes du Ciel, plate solve and synch exactly, then to do a goto to acquire the target. I aligned with stars from my RGB image. It was exceedingly cold; the CCD was at -7.5 °C while running with no active cooling. Occasional intermittent wind gusts, but I was able to image until the target went behind the neighbors's trees.
Date: 30 Dec, 2014
Subject: IC 417 and NGC 1931, “Spider and Fly” Nebulae
Scope: Orion ST80 + Antares 0.5x telereducer
Filter: Baader 7 nm Hα
Mount: CG-5 (Synta motors, PicGoto Simplificado)
Guiding: 9x50 Finder/Guider + DSI Ic + PHD 2.4.1 (Win 7 ASCOM)
Camera: DSI IIc no cooling (-7.5 °C)
Acquisition: Nebulosity 3.2.1, no dither
Exposure: 23x600 s
Stacking: Neb 3, bad pixel map, bias included, no flats, extract R, histogram match, square, trans+rot align, 1.5 SD stack.
Processing: StarTools 1.3.5.289 Crop; Develop 60.22%; HDR
ptimize; Life:less is more; Deconvolute: 4.2 pix; Track 2.0 pix; Magic 1 pix. Photoshop CC 2014 + Carboni Astronomy Tools Hα false color black sky; Astroframe.
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