This image contains open star cluster NGC 225 (center), reflection nebula vdB 4 (just above N225), various dark nebulas (most notably LDN 1291 just above vdB 4), and a smaller open star cluster Stock 24 to the right of image center. This area is located in Cassiopeia very close to Gamma Cass (the 'center' of the 5 main stars in Cass).

There is a very small, pitch black dark nebula in the top left of the image. I do not have an ID on this nebula.

Technical details:
Date: Sept 19, 2015
Time: 10:10 pm - 1:45 am
Camera: SBIG STF-8300M
CCD Temperature: -5 C
Optics: Televue 127is (native)
Filter: Astronomik L
Light frames: 24x8 min
Dark frames: 25
Flat frames: 25
Flat darks: 25
Binning: 1x1
Guiding: Orion SSAG @ Orion finder (~162 mm)
Mount: AP Mach 1
Dithering: Manual
Processing: Stacking in CCDStack, Curves, Levels and gentle noise reduction in PSCS6.


Other notes:

A lovely session. I can finally confirm that the mount is as good as new - no spikes in my guide graphs. On the other hand, there was a slight focus drift over the course of the night. It's impossible to determine if that drift is caused by thermal drift or focuser slip. It's a very minimal effect though.



Wildlife wise it was fairly quiet. Lots of tarantulas on my way up, two very close encounters with some kind of bird, and a couple of scorpion sightings. I decided to harass one of the scorpions for a couple of minutes, and I was very happy to see no aggressive behavior from them. Still, I'll need to ID them in case I do get bit.



But the 'highlight' was the return of flashes on the horizon. I had seen them in earlier sessions a couple of years ago, and I never figured out what their origin was. This time, I only saw three flashes, and they weren't very bright.