M45 Pleiades
I’d starting the evening with my planetary scope but seeing was very poor so I swapped over to my 480mm f/6 refractor instead.
I should have guessed seeing was poor as a lot of airliners were flying overhead during the day - usually a sign that they are chasing a tailwind from the turbulent jet stream.
I had hoped to get quite a few hours of data but only got 41 x 2 minutes. Once I had done my polar alignment and basic focus at Park, I was able to run the whole session indoors from my IPad including plate solving GOTO and automatic multi star FWHM focusing.
I reduced my exposure time down to 2 minutes and gain to 0 as it’s difficult to accommodate both the bright stars and faint nebulosity of the Pleiades.
Technical Card:
480/80mm f/6 Altair Starwave triplet refractor.
Altair Planostar 1.0 x FF with 2 inch IDAS LPS P3 filter
ZWO ASI2600MC; 41 x 2 minute subs, Gain 0, Offset 50, Temp = -10c.
EQ6 pro mount with Rowan belt drives. EQMOD control. Primalucelab Sesto Senso electronic focuser.
Session control; SharpCap 4.0 on laptop with WiFi link to IPad.
50 dark frames
50 flat frames (electroluminescent panel, 1 second exposure @ 0 gain).
Post processed in PixInsight 1.8.9.
Local parameters:
Temp: 0.3c
Humidity: 99%
Dew point: 0.2c
Light Pollution and Weather:
SQM (L) at end of session = 20.2 mag/arcsec2.
Session ended by cloud, all subs good.
Polar Alignment:
QHY Polemaster alignment -
Error measured by PHD2= 0.2 arc minute.
RA drift + 1.21 arcsec/min
Dec drift + 0.04 arcsec/min
Guiding:
PHD2 guiding with ZWO ASI290mm/Altair Starwave 206/50mm guider.
RA RMS error 0.62 arcsec
Dec RMS error 0.59 arcsec
Astrometry:
Center: RA: 3 47 16.236 Dec: +24 06 15.58
Size: 2d 23' 52.7" x 1d 44' 6.8"
Image scale: 1.612 arcsec/pixel
Focal distance: 481.09mm
Pixel Size 3.76 microm
M45 Pleiades
I’d starting the evening with my planetary scope but seeing was very poor so I swapped over to my 480mm f/6 refractor instead.
I should have guessed seeing was poor as a lot of airliners were flying overhead during the day - usually a sign that they are chasing a tailwind from the turbulent jet stream.
I had hoped to get quite a few hours of data but only got 41 x 2 minutes. Once I had done my polar alignment and basic focus at Park, I was able to run the whole session indoors from my IPad including plate solving GOTO and automatic multi star FWHM focusing.
I reduced my exposure time down to 2 minutes and gain to 0 as it’s difficult to accommodate both the bright stars and faint nebulosity of the Pleiades.
Technical Card:
480/80mm f/6 Altair Starwave triplet refractor.
Altair Planostar 1.0 x FF with 2 inch IDAS LPS P3 filter
ZWO ASI2600MC; 41 x 2 minute subs, Gain 0, Offset 50, Temp = -10c.
EQ6 pro mount with Rowan belt drives. EQMOD control. Primalucelab Sesto Senso electronic focuser.
Session control; SharpCap 4.0 on laptop with WiFi link to IPad.
50 dark frames
50 flat frames (electroluminescent panel, 1 second exposure @ 0 gain).
Post processed in PixInsight 1.8.9.
Local parameters:
Temp: 0.3c
Humidity: 99%
Dew point: 0.2c
Light Pollution and Weather:
SQM (L) at end of session = 20.2 mag/arcsec2.
Session ended by cloud, all subs good.
Polar Alignment:
QHY Polemaster alignment -
Error measured by PHD2= 0.2 arc minute.
RA drift + 1.21 arcsec/min
Dec drift + 0.04 arcsec/min
Guiding:
PHD2 guiding with ZWO ASI290mm/Altair Starwave 206/50mm guider.
RA RMS error 0.62 arcsec
Dec RMS error 0.59 arcsec
Astrometry:
Center: RA: 3 47 16.236 Dec: +24 06 15.58
Size: 2d 23' 52.7" x 1d 44' 6.8"
Image scale: 1.612 arcsec/pixel
Focal distance: 481.09mm
Pixel Size 3.76 microm