M35

Woohoo some clear skies. I almost didn't take the gear out as my back is still not good, but did anyway. After levelling, powering up, and carrying out a one star align on Castor, I slewed to M35. I tried this with goto but was out, I don't know why. Not a problem, I adjusted position manually. Oh, I should point out that I swapped my Celestron 6x30 finderscope for my Baader SkySurfer III. I got fed up with finding it so hard to ensure I had the finder on the right object. The long arm of the bracket also meant it was far more likely to get knocked and then it would need realigning. The RDF just works so well. Using the RDF, I can get my target lined up and it'll be in the FOV of most of my ep's straight off.

Anyway, I digress. Having received the 2" extension tube and the MaxDSLR 2" attachment fitting thingy (technical word there) I setup the camera, my new Skywatcher LP filter in the MaxDSLR, this should remove most of the vignetting. Set the time remote and got capturing. I captured some 40 subs, then as there was some cloud drifting through, darks, flats and flat darks. Meanwhile, whilst the darks were capturing, I'd slewed to M44. However, more thicker cloud moved in and covered the sky so I packed up and came in.

I downloaded the subs and started checking them. I ended up with only 7 usable 40s frames. The rest all showed drive errors. Then it hit me like a hurled brick. Having changed the fittings and the finder, the balance was now out again. The camera now sits further back and the extention tube is heavier than the 1.25" fittings I'd been using. Damn. Anyway, it's rebalanced now, I had to shift the scope forward about an inch.

After stacking the 7 subs, 13 darks, 15 flats and 15 dark flats (first time I've ever had fewer subs than correction frames....) in DSS I used a cube root stretch and boosted saturation. Then into PS for some more adjustments...



I'm pleased with the result, but disappointed at the amount of wastage... Ho hum.