{"id":456,"date":"2011-03-13T18:38:18","date_gmt":"2011-03-13T22:38:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.silvren.com\/blog\/?p=456"},"modified":"2013-12-30T13:27:10","modified_gmt":"2013-12-30T18:27:10","slug":"m106-at-chr-31211","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.silvren.com\/blog\/?p=456","title":{"rendered":"M106 at CHR – 03\/12\/11"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was mostly heading out, not expecting it to be as clear as it ended up being, to do some fine collimation work and focus scripting in Maxim. However, it just was so clear that I figured I’d do a couple hours of imaging instead, even though the seeing, as has been continually the case recently, wasn’t good. I had to leave early however, as I had a busy Sunday ahead. So, here’s the AT8RC mounted on the CGE-Pro, Parsec 8300M, motorized filter wheel, ATFF field flattener, and motorized MoonLite CS, setup, pre-wiring:<\/p>\n

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Here’s my FocusMax focus run from 9PM.<\/p>\n

21:00:47\u00a0\u00a0\r\n21:00:47\u00a0\u00a0 System: MySystem\r\n21:00:47\u00a0\u00a0 ** Beginning Focus run **\r\n21:00:47\u00a0\u00a0 LS: -0.072583 RS: 0.072609 PID: 9.76 NFHFD: 10\r\n21:00:48\u00a0\u00a0 Move direction: Out\r\n21:00:48\u00a0\u00a0 Temperature = 16.0\r\n21:00:48\u00a0\u00a0 Filter number = 0\r\n21:00:48\u00a0\u00a0 Current position = 6419\r\n21:00:48\u00a0\u00a0 Focus Start: 6453\r\n21:01:07\u00a0\u00a0 Target star found at\u00a0 X = 1719, Y = 1304\r\n21:01:07\u00a0\u00a0 Focus exposures will be 0.11 sec\r\n21:01:11\u00a0\u00a0 Position , HFD , Mean Best Focus , X , Y , Flux\r\n21:01:11\u00a0\u00a0 6453\u00a0 ,\u00a0\u00a0 7.47\u00a0 ,\u00a0 0\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1712\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1317\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1106068\r\n21:01:11\u00a0\u00a0 HFD < NearFocus HFD\r\n21:01:15\u00a0\u00a0 6409\u00a0 ,\u00a0\u00a0 6.31\u00a0 ,\u00a0 0\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1709\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1319\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1109319\r\n21:01:15\u00a0\u00a0 On the wrong side of focus\r\n21:01:22\u00a0\u00a0 6047\u00a0 ,\u00a0 25.41\u00a0 ,\u00a0 0\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1710\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1320\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1023097\r\n21:01:27\u00a0\u00a0 6153\u00a0 ,\u00a0 18.33\u00a0 ,\u00a0 0\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1712\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1321\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1281629\r\n21:01:27\u00a0\u00a0 On correct side of focus\r\n21:01:27\u00a0\u00a0 Move to Near Focus HFD\r\n21:01:31\u00a0\u00a0 6268\u00a0 ,\u00a0 11.19\u00a0 ,\u00a0 0\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1708\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1319\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1088295\r\n21:01:31\u00a0\u00a0 ** Starting Near Focus **\r\n21:01:31\u00a0\u00a0 Position , HFD , Mean Best Focus , X , Y , Flux\r\n21:01:31\u00a0\u00a0 6268\u00a0 ,\u00a0 11.19\u00a0 ,\u00a0 6417\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1708\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1319\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1088295\r\n21:01:35\u00a0\u00a0 6268\u00a0 ,\u00a0\u00a0 9.74\u00a0 ,\u00a0 6407\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1708\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1320\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1047245\r\n21:01:38\u00a0\u00a0 6268\u00a0 ,\u00a0 10.85\u00a0 ,\u00a0 6409\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1708\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1321\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1052828\r\n21:01:41\u00a0\u00a0 6268\u00a0 ,\u00a0 10.99\u00a0 ,\u00a0 6410\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1708\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1319\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1158818\r\n21:01:44\u00a0\u00a0 6268\u00a0 ,\u00a0 11.17\u00a0 ,\u00a0 6412\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1707\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1321\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1035770\r\n21:01:48\u00a0\u00a0 6268\u00a0 ,\u00a0 11.98\u00a0 ,\u00a0 6414\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1706\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1319\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1170274\r\n21:01:48\u00a0\u00a0 Best Focus is: 6414\r\n21:01:53\u00a0\u00a0 6414\u00a0 ,\u00a0\u00a0 6.62\u00a0 ,\u00a0 6414\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1708\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1319\u00a0 ,\u00a0 1247415\r\n21:01:53\u00a0\u00a0 Position = 6414\u00a0 Avg HFD =\u00a0 6.62\r\n21:01:54\u00a0\u00a0 Focusing Completed\r\n21:01:54\u00a0\u00a0 Focus time = 67 sec<\/pre>\n
I took a 15 second exposure in Auriga, at 9:56PM (the bright star in the center left is Phi Aurigae), which was fairly straight up and dense:<\/p>\n
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I ran this through CCDInspector, which gave me:<\/p>\n
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Good enough. I decided to skip fine collimation and just see what M106 would look like at 480s with 5 subs LRGB each. I wasn’t expecting much at all, especially as I started imaging it fairly low in the sky, while the 1st quarter Moon was still up. M106 would hit 88 degrees at 1:08 AM, and the Moon would be just setting then, but I had to pack up before that.<\/p>\n
So here’s M106 (and NGC4248).<\/p>\n
Specs:<\/p>\n