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Taken 16-Dec-15
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62 of 76 photos

LDN1622 in Orion.

This field shows dark nebulae LDN1622 (big structure near bottom right) and LDN1621, just above it. I think the bright nebula at the bottom right is Parsamian 3. It is surprisingly bright for an object outside of the NGC. Perhaps my charts are missing this entry.

The first half of the night was plagued by poor seeing, so the stars were more bloated than I prefer. I tried to remedy the issue with deconvolution, but some of the stars are now 'bullet holes'. Shockingly, the stars from the last frame (as the object was setting) had the smallest FWHM. Don't zoom in too much expecting beautiful data.

Technical details:
Date: Dec 15, 2015
Time: 10:00 pm - 2:30 am
Camera: SBIG STF-8300M
CCD Temperature: -15 C
Optics: Televue 127is (native)
Filter: AstroDon L
Light frames: 31x8 min
Dark frames: ~18
Flat frames: 25
Flat darks: 25
Binning: 1x1
Guiding: Orion SSAG @ Orion finder (~162 mm)
Mount: AP Mach 1
Dithering: Manual
Processing: Stacking and deconvolution in CCDStack, Curves, Levels in PSCS6.

Other notes:
Yet another entry in my work day outings ... brought to you by El Nino. With a wet (=cloudy) forecast for Feb/Mar/Apr*, I am jumping on every astro opportunity I get. I normally would not have used this session as it was freezing out (-3 C, 29 F). A 'tactical' hoodie bought in Hawaii (of all places) did more for my warmth than most of the winter gear I have ever purchased - though I must have looked like Kenny from South Park.

I also solved the electrical discharge issue I experienced last time. A ground strap, properly secured to my car's door, did the trick and it didn't even restrict movement that much.

I ended the session with a discovery!!! There was a screw in my car's tire. :(

*I am putting together a higher focal length (2000 mm) setup for galaxy work, and I'll probably use the wet season to assemble it. Hopefully, that setup will be operational by late spring.

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LDN1622 in Orion.