Found the Virgo Cluster almost immediately after focusing on Denebola with a Bahtinov mask. However, almost as soon as I started I began to get intermittent clouds and these plagued the whole session. I’ve been having this cloud problem consistently for the last 2 weeks or more, and this is the first time I’ve actually tried to go out. The clouds during this session were so bad I lost guiding repeatedly. I went to bed after resetting the guiding "one last time," so initially I didn’t know if I got many usable subframes, but it looks like things were clear after that until the Cluster moved behind the neighbors’ trees. I still just don’t have enough data for this to look how it should. I’ll likely try and get more subs tonight, since I’m still set up for it. One thing that is clear comparing this image with my earlier 14 May 2013 image is that the Fringe Killer filter is more appropriate for these kinds of galaxies than the UHC-S.
Date: 30 May 2013
Subject: Markarian’s Chain
Scope: Orion ST80
Filter: Baader Fringe Killer
Mount: CG-5 (Synta motors)
Guiding: 9x50 Finder/Guider + DSI Ic + PHD 1.14.2
Camera: DSI IIc (cooled at 1.5 A, 7.0 V, 5 °C)
Acquisition: Nebulosity 3.1.6
Exposure: 19 x 300 s
Stacking: Neb 3, bad pixel map, bias included, normalize first, trans+rot align, 1.5 SD stack.
Processing: StarTools 1.3 Crop; Wipe:Color & Brightness; Develop 93%; Contrast; HDR
ptimize; Sharpen; Deconvolute 2.0 pix; Track; Color:Bottom 2.0, Top Full, Sat 600%; Denoise (twice); Magic:Shrink; Life:Moderate. CS6+Astronomy Tools increase star color; deep space, space NR; less crunch more fuzzy; AstroFrame.
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