This was a very frustrating but also eye-opening project.  Last May I moved my equipment from a highly polluted, highly obstructed backyard with awful weather to a remote location with pristine skies and lovely weather.   Needless to say, I had a lot of expectations from this change. 

After a very nice "first light" imaging M63, things have become more challenging.  All of a sudden the autoguider and the focuser started giving me problems.  That's how I learned that operating a telescope at a remote observatory hundreds of miles away can be challenging... Is not as easy as going out to the backyard or the driveway to figure things out... .   I think I know what's wrong with both the guider and the focuser, but in order to fix them I will have to go to the observatory and stay there overnight.  No problem!  I have already scheduled a trip there for this week. 
Bonus:  the acoomodations are really nice and the stargazing is amazing!! 

Meanwhile (and in spite of these issues) I went ahead and gathered some data.  The objective was to see if there are more issues that needed to be addressed and needless to say...there are more!!   The most irritating and something that I completely forgot is the microlensing effect that my old ASI 1600 (first generation) camera  sensor creates.  It is hideous!!  When I saw the masters I said to myself:  "There is  no way I can process this out".  But...I am stubborn as they come!!  So...I went ahead, gave it a try and hoped to get something "decent" out of this.  And here is the result.  That Star Spikes Plugin for PS was a godsend! 

Needless to say, I already placed an order for an ASI 2600.  Meanwhile, I will search for deep sky objects with tiny, tiny little stars.  I know that this is not over...I will continue my search for more  issues, troubleshooting and fixing them...and of course...having fun with all this!!  

Clear skies to you all!
Wanda

PS:  I am adding a few pics showing the microlensing effect in some of my masters.  It is bad!!!