M56 Globular Cluster in Lyra

I'm still practicing here, in particular (1) Guiding with MaximDL - this time SBS, (2) Shooting RGB through a Hutech IDAS LPS filter to combat difficult skies last night (the local beer festival decided to have those sky floodlights going right at this location) and (3) Image processing in MaximDL.

 

So now I'm getting used to MaximDL it seems very powerful and I love the way it helps frame and align the shots with Astrometric processing. The guiding I had last night is probably the best I've achieved. I'm using an x-y adjuster on the guide scope to put a bright star right in the center of the chip. Errors of less than a pixel consistently.

 

I love the colors I was able to produce clearly showing the different star classes in view (you may have to zoom in).

 

According to CCDInspector I need to work on my collimation a little. I'm ~12" off and showing slit tilt.

 

L - 4x10min (2x2), RGB - 2x10min (2x2)

Imaging scope: AT8RC

Imaging Camera: Atik383+ Mono (capture with MaximDL)

Filters: Astronomics NB and LRGB set (par-focal)

Extras: Astro-tech field flattener (no reduction) used.

Guiding: TMB92 w/Orion DSCI2 using MaximDL

Mount: Celestron CGE

Processing: Calibrated, stacked and processed in MaximDL.

Done