M102 The Spindle Galaxy in Draco Date: 5/29/2007

LOCATION: Home driveway in San Diego with extreme light polution

CONDITONS: 100% moon, seeing 6/10, transparency 6/10, temperature 59 F

TELESCOPE: C8 Celestron 8" scope, prime focus, with diagonal.

MOUNT: Losmandy G11, Gemini goto, polar scope used to align

GUIDING: Televue 85mm refractor, 600mm focal length, F7, with diagonal, The Image Source DMK 21AF04, PHD software

CAMERA: Canon Rebel 300d prime focus.

FOCUSING: Manual using the Canon right angle 2.5 magnifier.

EXPOSURES: (4) 4 min raw 800 ISO, (6) bias, (0) darks, (0)flats

PPROCESSING: IP 2.82 - converted raw to FITS, align-rotate, combine median, digital development, sharpened using adaptive Richardson Lucy, star size reduction, converted to jpg, Photoshop CS; levels, color balance, cropped, unsharp mask, Speckle & dust filter, and reduced size for web.

COMMENTS: My focus was definitely off. Darks and flats would improved this image.