Observation/Imaging Log – 09/04/2010
Date: 9/4/2010
Time: 9:00 PM – 12:00 AM EDT
Scope: Astro-Tech 66mm ED
Guidescope: Celestron C6-SGT
Mount: Celestron Advance CG5 GOTO
Eyepieces: 25mm Plossl for alignment
Location: Backyard, Suffolk, VA
Weather: Cooler, very clear, a little humid.
Transparency: 7/8 Seeing: 6
Alignment Stars: Arcturus, Antares
Calibration Stars: Deneb, Caph, Albireo
Hand Controller Polar Align Routine on Antares.
Very nice clear night. The Milky Way was easily visible across the sky, which is unusual for my backyard, the light pollution usually does it in. I was also able to see all the stars in the little dipper without assistance. So a very nice night for observing.
I was set up to image but I did have a look at M27 and M31 through both scopes with the 25mm Plossl and both resolved nicely. M31 was still very low but bright and the bright galactic core was very easy to resolve in both scopes. M27 was nearly directly overhead and looked fantastic.
I also check out M22. In the C6 it was very easy to resolve individual stars, it also looked great in the 66 but it was not as easy to see individual members.
My first target for imaging was Messier 11 (M11) – The Wild Duck Cluster. I took fifteen 60 second exposures with the Orion Starshoot DSI II through the Astro-Tech 66mm guided with the Starshoot Autoguider on the Celestron C6-SGT and ended up with a twelve minutes (12×60 seconds)to stack. I had a little problem with the guiding after about 10 minutes and this caused some issues with the last few shots.
I think I need to work on this a bit more. It looks a little over exposed to me. I am going to try to reprocess what I have and will definitely spend some more time on this in the near future. It really is a nice looking cluster.
The next target was Messier 16 (M16) – The Eagle Nebula. I calibrated the autoguider and it seemed to be working well. I started with 10 60 second exposures and these turned out nice so I up the exposures to 120 seconds. I ended up with twenty minutes (10 x 120 seconds) of exposures with the Orion StarShoot DSI II through the Astro-Tech 66mm guided with the StarShoot Autoguider on the Celestron C6-SGT and I think it turned out very nice.
I also took some images of M31 but they were all junk. I am not sure why. I was having a few issues with the autoguider, not sure if there was a balance issue, if it had something to do with where M31 was in the sky, or what but I just could not get it work right.
All in all a great night to be out looking at the stars.
