Ghost Nebula, M 42, Horsehead, Comet Lemmon
Wormwood (my Dwarf 3) has been sitting atop Galaxy (my camper van) for about three days now. There’s been practically zero chance of rain, and the skies have been clear most nights, so there’s been no reason to take it down. Unfortunately, all of this imaging has been filling up its hard drive.
In the interest of conserving disk space, I took it easy last night and didn’t start imaging until after midnight. I started with IC 63, the Ghost Nebula. It might be too faint for my settings of a 15-second exposure and a gain of 60. I hope I can image it soon from a location where I can use equatorial mode.
IC 63, the Ghost Nebula; 387 subs, 15 secs, 60 gain, astro filter; from atop Galaxy
I wanted to get both M 42 and the Horsehead last night. Past experience has shown that M 42 disappears behind the neighbor’s tree first, so I started with that.
M 42, the Orion Nebula; 720 subs, 15 secs, 60 gain, duo filter; from atop Galaxy
Next came Barnard 33. I tried to stop just before the tree interfered, but I still had 13 minutes (52 exposures) ruined by a tree.
Barnard 33, the Horsehead Nebula; 701 subs, 15 secs, 60 gain, duo filter; from atop Galaxy
Finally, I revisited Comet Lemmon (C/2025 A6). The Dwarf 3 atlas seems to add and drop this comet from night to night. Last night it was missing, so I entered the RA and Dec as best I could. I was a bit off-center, “fixed” here with a crop. It’s definitely getting brighter. I’m hoping to try comet-tracked stacking soon to keep the comet sharp and turn the stars into streaks.
Comet Lemmon; 149 subs, 15 secs, 60 gain, astro filter; from atop Galaxy
After all of this, I only have 5GB of space left! Time to take Wormwood down for some much-needed rest.