Observation by John Hughes: Messier 1 - The Crab Nebula

Uploaded by

Mr John William Hughes

Observer

John Hughes

Observed

2020 Jan 04 - 22:56

Uploaded

2020 Jan 05 - 13:45

Objects

The Crab Nebula (M1)

Planetarium overlay









Constellation

Taurus

Field centre

RA: 05h34m
Dec: +21°59'
Position angle: +2°02'

Field size

1°22' × 0°59'

Equipment
  • William Optics Z103ED
  • ZWO ASI1600mm Cooled Pro
  • Baader 7nm H-alpha Filter
  • SkyWatcher NEQ6R-Pro
  • Sequence Generato Pro
Exposure

Gain 139, Offset 21

Location

North Essex, UK

Target name

Messier 1

Title

Messier 1 - The Crab Nebula

About this image

The last time I was able to get outside and image was in September 2019. A combination of illness and bad weather managed to scupper any chance of getting the telescope out. In the meantime, I threw myself into learning Sequence Generator Pro and automating my gear so that I can control all aspects (other than dragging it out into the garden from the garage) from the comfort of indoors.

The main purpose for last night was to test run SGP, acquire the step sizes for my motor focuser and then to test run a short image session to ensure the image sequencing, plate solving and guiding all came together.

The bad news is the clouds managed to spoil any serious imaging and the Moon was at 62% illumination. The good news was my H-alpha filter was in the filter wheel and Messier 1 was ideally placed.

The attached image is made up of;

Lights 6 x 5 mins

Flats 25

Dark Flats 25

Darks 25

I will certainly be revisiting Messier 1 in the near future.

John

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