Finally smokeless, cloudless and moonless sky. NGC 206

Finally smokeless, cloudless and moonless sky last night after about four months. I imaged NGC 206 which a small blue cluster (at center of image) located at the edge of M31. Capturing and blending Luminance image with RGB really makes a huge difference as compared to just processing RGB.

High resolution at: Galaxies - PeterNagy

NGC 206. RGB + Luminance. 0.93"/pixel image scale.

Astrodon I series Red filter, 18 x 4 minutes, 1x1. 10/12/2018.
Astrodon I series Green filter, 18 x 4 minutes, 1x1. 10/12/2018.
Astrodon I series Blue filter, 18 x 4 minutes, 1x1. 10/12/2018.
Astrodon I series Lum filter, 54 x 4 minutes, 1x1. 10/12/2018.

Total 7.2 hours.

TEC 140 APO F/7 with TEC Field Flattener, Astro-Physics A-P1100GTO GEM with absolute encoders. QSI660wsg. OAG and Ultrastar autoguider (1.31"/sec), Optec Handy Stepper Motor focuser.

Captured and automated with SGP. Calibration and Post-processed with PixInsight. PHD2 settings: RA Aggressiveness: 60, RA Hysteresis: 10, Max RA/Dec Duration: 2000, Min Move: 0.60 (0.8" guide camera), Calibration Steps: 300msec, Auto/Resist Switching, Auto guiding exposure and extreme dithering.

4 Likes

Fantastic Peter!
I know what it’s like having to wait months between opportunities!

Thank you. It was challenging and fun capturing and processing this DSO.

Peter