This image of M101 isn't that great, there are many more impressive out there, in fact my image from last year may be better. However, what makes this image special is I used Astro Photography Tool (APT) to control not only my camera but also my mount. In addition I used PointCraft, a module of APT which allows the telescope to center on an object by plate solving. I hate to admit it but this was much quicker and more accurate than I was ever able to accomplish with my normal alignment and centering method. I can see with people people use this method and why it is especially if you have a large telescope or use a camera with a smaller FOV.

The weather has been horrible for stargazing here lately (the yard is greener than ever) but it has been good enough for me to practice using different software. In addition to testing APT, I downloaded Sequence Generator Pro (SGP) to give it a try as well. Warning if you plan on doing this - getting everything to work, i.e. downloading drivers, updating firmware, cabling, and etc. is tedious, time-consuming and frustrating. Choose week when the moon is out or when you have lots of extra time.

I did a more in depth review of why I chose APT over SGP - Link - (http://astroquest1.blogspot.com/2018/06/why-i-chose-astro-photography-tool-over.html) so no need to go over it here. I liked both programs and SGP does have some advantages but I liked the simplistic feel of APT or maybe it is my personal biased as it looks and works more like BYEOS.

Whatever the reason, I am especially happy about the Plate Solving. After I got it work I was just bouncing around to different objects taking test photos and I was almost dead on most of the time. If I wasn't I just pressed solve and I was back on. If it ever clears up around here I can add more data to M101 and/or I may combine it with last years image. I chose to crop off center because I wanted to show the NGC 5474 as well as the large stars on the left. Sort of my artistic finesse on an otherwise not so spectacular image.