M44 Beehive Cluster in Cancer

 

Date: 4/10/2007

Location: my driveway in San Diego, California

Conditions: 0% moon, seeing 5/10, transparency 5/10, temperature 59 F

Telescope: Televue 85mm refractor, 600mm focal length, F7, prime focus, no diagonal.

Mount: Losmandy G11, Gemini goto, polar scope used to align, rough drift alignment

Guiding: Vixen 6" scope, TouCam Pro web cam, PHD software

Camera: Canon Rebel 300d

Focusing: Manual used Imaged Plus software focus option with Canon Rebel.

Exposures: (2) 4 min raw 800 ISO

Processing: IP 2.75 - converted raw to FITS, align-rotate, combine median, digital development with sharpening, converted to jpg, Photoshop CS; levels, color balance, cropped, Gradient Exterminator, star refraction spikes added using Noel Carboni tools, unsharp mask, reduced size for web.

Comments: This is my first attempt at guiding. I need to tune it in better as it was loosing the star every 6th iteration. I was using a magnitude 7 star.