I just couldn’t quite quit on galaxies; I’ve had this target on my list for some time. At about 500 million light years distance, the tiny fuzzies in this image are the most remote objects I have ever attempted. All of astronomy blows my mind, but the fact that I can capture photons this old from my back yard is very humbling. This image certainly would benefit from darker skies and more data. I probably should have started on it earlier in the year when it was in a darker part of my sky. This was also my first use of my ST-80 scope on the EQ-6 mount for imaging; guiding is super-easy at this scale. I did have problems trying to run my FocusPal software under Windows 10: it would indicate it found the FCUSB when I launched the software, but as soon as I tried to adjust the focuser it would say “FCUSB not found.” I also continue to have trouble with Sequence Generator Pro plate solving. Plate solves work once, but then the plate solver fails to start when it tries to do the confirmatory image. I need to ask on the forum about what I’m doing wrong. So I’ve got several things to figure out during the cloudy nights to come.

In the revision, after looking at this on a better monitor I decided the background looked horrible, so I darkened it up using levels with a layer mask.

Date: 27-28 Jun 2016

Subject: Abell 2151, Hercules Galaxy Cluster

Scope: Orion ST-80 + Antares 0.5x focal reducer

Filter: Baader Planetarium Fringe Killer

Mount: EQ-6 (EQMOD)+PEC

Guiding: AT8IN+High Point Scientific Coma Corrector +DSI Ic+PHD 2.6.1.8 (Win 10 ASCOM)

Camera: DSI IIc, no chiller CCD 20 °C

Acquisition: Sequence Generator Pro 2.5.1.17 with Nebulosity 4.0.4 ASCOM camera driver (Win 10)

Exposure: 18x600 s

Stacking: Neb 4, bad pixel map, bias included, 33 flats, match histograms, trans+rot align, Deep Sky Stacker 1.5σ κ-σ stack with 2x drizzle.

Processing: StarTools 1.4.316: Crop; Wipe; Develop: 62.4%; HDRptimize; Color:Scientific, 200% saturation; Life:heavy; Track: Smoothness 87%, 8.5 pix; Magic, shrink 2 pix. Photoshop CS6 + Astronomy Tools: Deep space noise reduction; Curves+Levels (twice); Layer masked levels; Increase star color; Astroframe.