Imaging telescopes or lenses: Stellarvue SVX080T-3SV
Imaging cameras: ZWO ASI2600MC Pro
Mounts: Losmandy G11 Gemini 2
Guiding telescopes or lenses: ZWO 60280 Guide Scope
Guiding cameras: ZWO ASI120MM Mini
Focal reducers: Stellarvue SFF3-80
Software: Phd2 · Pleaides Astrophoto PixInsight 1.8.8-6 · SharpCap 2.9 · Photoshop CC 2019 · DeepSkyStacker (DSS) deepskystacker
Dates:Feb. 7, 2021
Frames: 300x180" (gain: 100.00) -10C
Integration: 15.0 hours
Darks: ~55
Flats: ~55
Flat darks: ~55
Avg. Moon age: 25.09 days
Avg. Moon phase: 20.68%
Bortle Dark-Sky Scale: 3.00
Astrometry.net job: 4226508
RA center: 6h 32' 9"
DEC center: +4° 58' 22"
Pixel scale: 1.598 arcsec/pixel
Orientation: 338.695 degrees
Field radius: 1.665 degrees
Resolution: 6232x4176
Locations: Home, Flagstaff, AZ, United States
Data source: Backyard
I wish I could say I had planned this, but better to be lucky than good sometimes!
As I was watching the live stack of my imaging session in Sharpcap, I noticed an anomaly of sorts. I wrote it off as some sort of artifact, a satellite, plane, hot pixel or other camera noise that would work itself out in calibration and processing.
The next night there it was again, but in a slightly different place. I opened the asteroid data in SkySafari and there it was! (130) Elektra, a 180km Main-Belt asteroid was working its way across the sky right next to my chosen target, the Rosette Nebula. What a cool surprise!
I ended up masking the asteroid in from a stack of all of my subs in order to maintain a bit more consistency over the four evenings of imaging. It was interesting to see how poorly image capture had gone on the third night because of unstable seeing and high FWHM that had led to me culling most of that night's subs in the main stack for the nebula, resulting in virtually no third segment in that stack. (I kept 15 hours of a total of 19.95 captured.)
Description: Blended stars inside the nebula better.
Uploaded: ...
Description: Pulled up background reds slightly
Uploaded: ...
| Arizona Astrophotographers |
| Losmandy mounts |
| Cooled Color Cams |
| "Simply Stellarvue" |
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