Spring time is galaxy season. This field shows two major galaxies: NGC 4725 just to the lower right of the image center and distorted NGC 4747 (Arp 159) to the upper left. Many galaxies litter the background.

Date: April 16, 2015
Time: 9:15 pm - 12:40 am
Camera: SBIG STF-8300M
CCD Temperature: -15 C
Optics: Televue 127is (native)
Filter: Astronomik L
Light frames: 35x5 min
Dark frames: none (bias frames)
Flat frames: 25
Bias frames: 25
Binning: 1x1
Guiding: Orion SSAG @ Orion finder (~162 mm)
Mount: AP Mach 1
Dithering: Manual
Processing: Stacking in DSS, DDP in CCDStack, Curves, Levels, and noise removal actions in PSCS6.

Other notes:
A night of many firsts.

• First time out with astro gear in my new car.
• First time using the 127is in its native configuration (660 mm focal length).
• First intentional image with an Arp galaxy.
• First time I accidentally aligned the mount to Kochab instead of Polaris.
• First time I was operating three telescopes in one night. One of them (Burgess Optical 90mm) will be sold while the other (Tak Sky 90) will serve as a grab-and-go visual setup while the imaging setup will remain unchanged.