Saturday 19 November 2011

First Light M1

It has been a long time waiting. But here it is first light from the new Hills Observatory. I thought I would pay homage to Messier's no 1 in his collection of fuzzies to avoid the great Crab Nebula M1. The last two nights have been clear if somewhat damp. A good test or the new home of my scopes. Water has been dripping off the outside of the dome and the grass is soaked you can feel the damp in the air. But I still wanted to have a play. The observatory has worked incredibly well no damp on the internal walls or inner dome. Now moisture build up on the mount or Pier. The optics remained clear too. I didn't even power up the dew heaters. So here is the pic. A wide field shot of M1 in all its glory. A 3 hour guided exposure over 2 nights of 2.5 minute subs at ISO 800 Dark's subtracted. I will do a series of flats over the weekend and re post if I get an improvement. Let me know what you think.

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California Nebula

  NGC1499 The California Nebula. Discovered in 1889 The California Nebula is an emission nebula in the constellation of Perseus, currently v...