Another clear night, that’s three in a row! Clear, cool, a little dryer than the past two nights (not as much dew). The Waxing First Quarter Moon was around 50% but it was in the SW and set before midnight. I created a NINA Sequence to run through the entire night. Started just after astronomical dark on 09/10/2024 and ended just before astronomical day on 09/11/2024. Captured 7.5 hours of data from 4 different targets.
| Primary (Imaging) | Secondary (Guiding) |
|---|---|
| Scope: SVBONY SV503 102ED Reducer/Flattener: 0.8 Focal Reducer/Flattener (~570mm – F/5.6) Filter: None Camera: ZWO ASI294 MC Pro, Cooled to -10 C Focuser: ZWO EAF Mount: Sky Watcher EQ6-R Pro |
Scope: SVBONY SV106 60mm Guide Scope Camera: Orion Star Shooter Autoguider (OSSAG) |
| Telescope Control, Image Acquisition, and Image Processing Software | |
|
Equipment Control and Imaging Software: NINA/PHD2/ASCOM on a Mini-PC Processing Software: GraXpert, Siril astronomical image processing tool, Siril’s Interactive Companion (Sirilic) |
|
Uncovered the scope and started cooling the camera just before dark. After dark I ran the 3-point polar alignment, it only need a slight adjustment. I kicked off the NINA Sequence just after astronomical dark (about 8:50 PM) and the sequence ran through out the night capturing V*T CrB (15 x 120 seconds – 30 minutes), Collinder 399 (20 x 180 seconds – 1 hour), Messier 27 (40 x 180 seconds – 2 hours), and finally the Drunken Dragon (80 x 180 seconds – 4 hours). The scope parked and the camera warmed just after 5 AM on 09/11/2024. The session was logged on my Lightbucket page.
The sequence started with a capture of V*T CrB, the Blaze Star. No visible change in magnitude. I’ll run the photometric analysis in ASTAP and post the results to the V*T CrB recurrent nova page.
Each of these images were stacked using Sirilic. Cropping, background extraction, and denoising with GraXpert. Then processed using Siril.
Collinder 399 (Cr 399), Brocchi’s Cluster or the Coat Hanger Cluster, is an asterism of 10 stars in the constellation of Vulpecula. This is 20 x 180 second exposures (1 hour) at 121 gain, 30 offset, and bin 2×2. The Coat Hanger Cluster is the SkyWatcher USA September 2024 Target of the Month.
I cropped this down to just the 10 primary stars which make up the asterism. The focus seems a little soft. I removed a bunch of stars with Siril to highlight the bright stars of the asterism. I can see the coat hanger, can you?
Messier 27 (M27), the Dumbbell Nebula or Apple Core Nebula, is a planetary nebula in the constellation of Vulpecula. This is 40 x 180 second exposures (2 hours) at 121 gain, 30 offset, and bin 2×2.
Wow! This turned out great IMHO, probably the best image of M27 I have captured. Able to resolve a bit of detail and structure of the planetary nebula. The M27 sequence completed around 1 AM.
LBN 762, The Drunken Dragon Nebula, is a reflection nebula in the Constellation of Aries. This is 80 x 180 second exposures (4 hours) at 121 gain, 30 offset, and bin 2×2.
I had a look at the Drunken Dragon last year around this time. LBN 762 was the SkyWatcher USA TOTM for December 2023.
That was a great unattended session. The gear worked pretty well all night. I saw a couple minor issues in the logs: loss of guide star happened once or twice and I think there was only one instance where the drift triggered a slew and center. The scope parked in my scope down position to help protect the lens from dew and dust. Good stuff over all.
Looks like that might be the end of the clear skies for a couple days. Was great to get 3 nice clear nights in a row.
