Fishhead Nebula in Cassiopeia
Posted: 13 November 2020
Cloudy skies returned on Thursday morning, 12 November 2020, but the sky was mostly clear by sunset.
Open: Thursday, 12 November 2020, 1825 MST Temperature: 63°F |
Session: 1552 Conditions: Mostly clear |
Equipment:
12" f/8 LX600 w/StarLock
2" 24mm UWA eyepiece
HA, UHC filters
Camera:
D850 DSLR
SYNCed observatory clock to WWV time signals.
1832 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.
Viewed Jupiter and four moons, Saturn and three moons, and Mars, 102X.
Prepared D850 DSLR for imaging. Mounted the camera at prime focus using the Starizona Filter Slider System, focused on Mars with the HA filter in place, and locked the telescope mirror using the ScopeStuff LX600 12" Primary Mirror Lock.
1851 MST: High Precision ON.
Slewed to IC1795 (Fishhead Nebula) in the constellation of Cassiopeia.
1854 MST: StarLock ON.
Did StarLock autoguided images, ISO 6400, White Balance 4000K, using several exposure lengths, using the HA filter and then UHC filter. The 15 minute exposures through each filter showed the nebula the best, as seen here (unedited, HA on the left, UHC on the right).
This is a merge of both images (edited, slightly cropped).
2018 MST: I then slewed the telescope to Mars to check the focus with the UHC filter before doing my next planned imaging. Oops, the clouds that had been very low in the northwestern sky when I opened the observatory were now in the western half of the sky and moving rapidly eastward. Decided to defer more imaging until a future session.
2019 MST: StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.
Viewed NGC253 (Sculptor Galaxy), 102X, through thin clouds. It was to have been my next imaging target. SYNCed on the galaxy.
2029 MST: LX600 OFF.
Close: Thursday, 12 November 2020, 2043 MST Temperature: 50°F |
Session Length: 2h 18m Conditions: Mostly cloudy |
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