NGC663

Whilst it was a clear evening, I had too many things to get done on Friday night. So after setting up the scope, and setting the time remote to 30 second exposures, I left it running. After I while, I popped out to check, and the image preview was showing really dim stars, and not as many as I'd started with. I couldn't work it out. So, I stopped the timer trigger, and checked things over. Only to find that my objective lens looked like someone had been wiping it with a misty cloth. There was a huge amount of condensation on it. Hmm... thought I, scratching my head. Then I had an idea. I grabbed a long extension lead and the OH's hair dryer and set about the lens with it. (blowing hot air that is, not hitting it). That cleared the lens off nicely. I set the remote running again and went back in to get on with stuff. About 30 minutes later I popped back out, to discover that my cheapy bay battery had run flat. Damn. Quick change, onto the Canon batter, and set it running again. I let the run finish, shot 10 darks, 10 flats, and 10 dark flats. Downloaded the images, and set up DSS. I lost 3 frames to user error, walking about bounced the scope. I need to rethink the location, the decking is too bouncy... Maybe on the grass above the decking. I lost about 40 frames to thew dewing up. This left me with 154 x 30 second frames. Wow. I hadn't realised I'd grabbed quite so many. Oh Well. Stacking commenced...

Time Passes....


Time Passes some more....

Eventually after 4.5 hours the stacking process was complete. That was painful. A little tweak in PS and I ended up with