More work with the thin off-axis guider. I’m back to using USB-2 hub and cable for connections to my gear and so far have not had any disconnects during the run, so maybe that problem is solved. Conditions were not great for this image, but again it yielded a bit more detail than my best previous attempt. I had no problems getting guide stars before and after the meridian flip this time, but I do need to tweak the TOAG prism spacing to improve the focus and thus improve my chances. I need some RGB data here to put color in, but that will have to wait for less Moon.
Date: 12 Nov 2016
Subject: NGC 281, Pacman Nebula
Scope: AT8IN+Antares 0.5x focal reducer
Filter: Baader Planetarium 7 nm Hα
Mount: EQ-6 (EQMOD)+PEC
Guiding: Orion TOAG +DSI Ic+PHD 2.6.2.4 (Win 10 ASCOM)hear
Camera: DSI IIc, no chiller CCD ~10 °C
Acquisition: Sequence Generator Pro 2.5.2.4 with Nebulosity 4.1.1 ASCOM camera driver (Win 10)
Exposure: 37x600 s
Stacking: Neb 4.1.1, bad pixel map, bias included, 33 flats, match histograms, trans+rot align, Nebulosity 1.5σ standard deviation stack. Resize 2x (Catmull-Rom spline).
Processing: StarTools 1.4.316: Crop; Develop: 75.96%; HDR
ptimize; Deconvolute: 3.0 pix; Track: Smoothness 75%, 4.5 pix. Photoshop CS6 + Astronomy Tools: Levels; layer-masked local contrast enhance; Astroframe.
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