This area shows some dark nebulas in Cepheus. My charts show these nebulas to be LDN 1198, 1197, 1194, 1190, 1185, 1179, and 1192. The very loose open cluster Berk 95 is also visible to the right of the center of the image. Part of Sh2-135 is also visible in the lower right.

This was the first target of what was supposed to be a 'two targets night', but clouds rolled in just as I finished this. Depressing, but I'll take whatever the weather gives me.

Date: September 7, 2013
Time: 21:45 pm - 12:30 am
Camera: SBIG STF-8300M
CCD Temperature: -5 C
Optics: Takahashi Sky 90 II @ 406 mm fl (f/4.5)
Filter: Astronomik L
Light frames: 21x5 min
Dark frames: none
Flat frames: 19
Binning: 1x1
Guiding: Orion SSAG @ Orion finder (~162 mm)
Mount: AP Mach 1
Dithering: Manual
Processing: Stacking in DeepSkyStacker, Curves and Levels PSCS6.

Other notes:
Tarantula season has officially started. :)

Careful followers of my images will have noticed that this image was taken with a different mount than usual. Like most of my gear, this was a second hand purchase, and this session served as a characterization session of the new mount.

The GM8 was a miraculous mount, but in windy conditions it was showing signs of labor. The upgrade to the Mach 1 was unfortunately necessary. My expectations of the Mach 1 are high. Not only do I expect it to carry my current setup, but also the setup I am planning on upgrading to in ~5 years (a TEC140 or similar), and the one following that (~8" Mak in ~15 years). In other words, this is a long term purchase.

Upon opening the shipping box of the mount I got worried. "This is waaaaay too big" I thought to myself. Compared to the Mach 1, the GM8 looked like chopsticks that were glued together. I was very glad I did not decide on the 900 or 1100 GTO.

In the field, the Mach 1 did have its issues - not a surprise for a used mount. The Go-to function was not working properly. This could be an issue with the wiring I used, with the balance of the scope, or with small particles in the motor housing. I'll have to look into this later this week. With Go-to out of commission for the night, I did not feel abandoned though. My first scope was a Dobson, and my GM-8 was a non-Go-to. Being a veteran 'push-to' observer/imager, I continued the night with the mount in push-to mode. After a couple of minutes of manually navigating the sky, I finally found my target, and the real test of the mount began.

A half-grin appeared on my face as PHD finished calibrating the mount - practically zero backlash in both axes. This half grin morphed into a full grin after the first image finished - 0.05 pixel rms guide error. This converts to ~0.3" guiding accuracy - not only well below local seeing conditions but also well below the resolution of my setup. My GM-8 would provide 0.6" rms error in the best conditions, but as soon as it got windy, this error would go up to 1.3+".

Verdict so far: Holy mount, Batman.