Christmas Tree Cluster / Cone Nebula / Fox Fur Nebula

Lots to say about this:

1. This should look better for 19.5 hours of data, however, it was primarily just a test to work out kinks. Mostly it was a test of whether I could operate a second mount with a mini computer (a Minix), but it was also done to work out the image train issues with my color camera that morphed into lots and lots of other issues.

2. My data are about as flawed as could be. (The subs shot at gain 30 were a mistake, by the way.) I removed my camera about 10 times, making adjustments to distance, adding a filter wheel, adding an off-axis guider, adding filters in the filter wheel, switching reducers, etc. I'm almost surprised I was even able to get it to stack in DSS.

3. I'm still learning how to get the most out of my refractor and color camera. I'm really not a refractor guy. In addition to my issues balancing it in Dec, I can rarely get my camera in straight even though it uses basically the same focuser as my Newtonian. I've even resorted to using a vise grip to clamp the collar down yet the next time I'd touch those screws, one would be loose. Temperature changes?

4. Because of the constant changes to the spacing for the reducer*s* and issues with getting the camera in straight, all but my last subs have skewed stars in the corners, so I had to crop considerably (about a third!). Considering how tiny this sensor is: eegad!

5. This marks the last time I'll ever willingly use a guide scope. I kept my old Toupcam and guide scope because I thought I'd use it for my second rig. I absolutely hated it. My average RMS was north of 1.5". I threw away tons and tons of subs - including two entire nights. I broke down and got a better guide cam and an off-axis guider for my color camera and my guiding graph (and stars!) improved significantly.

6. There are aspects of my previous attempt at this target (with my Newt) that I like better, and there are aspects of this image I like better. All in all, I think I'll be coming back to it again in a couple years.

I'm looking forward to putting my Newt back on the AZ-EQ5 and my RC (with the color camera) on the EQ6-R. I'll put the refractor up sometime in the summer.