M106 Revisited

20:10 19/4/2010 UTC

I was in Artjärvi to try this again in a dark site. Unfortunately my exposures were cut short when my telescope hit the tripod. Conditions were very good, SQM readings went from 20.8 to even 21.3 while moon set. This is a nice comparsion with my previous one. I had almost identical luminance exposures, altough subs were much longer. Darker backgroung gives more SNR, which in turn leads to a deeper image. Gradients were missing also, which easied processing substantially. Nice ending to a pretty lousy season. But wait, there is something still waiting in my processing queue...

Camera: Atik Instruments 4000LE | Telescope: Skywatcher ED80 Pro 80mm f7.5 refractor, William Optics 0.8x focal reducer | Mount: Vixen GP-D2, Boxdoerfer PowerFlex MTS-3SLP drive controller | Filters: Baader 2" LRGB Filter Set | Guiding: , The Imaging Source DMK 21AU04.AS CCD camera, Orion ShortTube 80mm f5 refractor, Stark-Labs PHD Guiding | Exposure: L 5x600s (50m) unbinned, CCD @ -25° RGB 6x240s (24m) each binned 2x2, CCD @ -25° Total exposure 2h2m | Software: CCDWare CCDStack, Adobe Photoshop CS4, Stark-Labs Nebulosity 2 | Location: 60°44'00"N 26°12'46"E (Tähtikallion Observatory/Artjärvi, FI)