I am not really happy with this result. However, it has led to the decision that I will purchase a cooled mono astro camera in the coming weeks. More than 22 hours of exposure time for this outcome feels unsatisfactory to me. I consider this project finished and as an important milestone.
Session Analysis
Session 1
A rather unremarkable session. Looking at the guiding performance, the seeing seems to have been okay. In between, it appears that a few small clouds passed through.
Session II
Looking at the guiding performance, it seems likely that the focus wasn’t 100% perfect at the beginning. After that, it ran quite acceptably.
Session III
By the third session at the latest, the guiding performance had significantly deteriorated. The fact that the guiding was reportedly not so great in the neighboring town at the same time gives me hope that the guiding issues can be attributed to the seeing conditions. Unfortunately, this persisted for 3 days.
Session IV
I began this session with RGB captures for the stars. Overall, the session was marked by a significant temperature drop and, consequently, numerous focusing procedures. I would describe the guiding performance as unstable. However, I wasn’t alone in experiencing this problem on that day either.
Session V
Well, the temperature curve alone was very strange, and the guiding was unstable and below average. This is also evident from the many short bars in the ‘Nachführung’ row. There was also quite a bit of waste here.
I think I should start using session planning in EKOS. It would be nicer if the session analysis would stop at the end of the captures.
Full resolution on Astrobin:
Session Details:
| Telescope | Baader Apo 95 CaF2 – Travel Companion |
| Focal Length | 590mm |
| Erecting Lense | Baader M68 Field Flattener |
| Camera | CANON EOS R(a) |
| Guiding Equipment | Pegasus Astro Indigo OAG |
| Guiding Camera | QHY 5-III-462C |
| Mount | Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro, Belt and Hypertuned |
| Photography Date | 08/10/2024, 08/25/2024, 08/26/2024, 08/27/2024, 08/28/2024 |
| Exposure-Time Lights | 257x300s (L-eXtreme) 60x60s (RGB) |
| Correction frames | FLATS, BIASES, DARKS |
| Sensitivity | ISO 1600 |
| Processing Date | 09/08/2024 |
| Software Stack | Stellarmate OS, PixInsight, Affinity Photo |
| Capture Place | Koblenz, Germany |
