I though that this rainy season would not end. Yet, last Wednesday night at home was a surprise in many ways. Firstly, it was unusually clear-no big thick clouds. Secondly, Polaris was clearly visible above my northern horizon where its perennially smoggy and lastly, we have a new dog which was not taken into consideration in my imaging set-up. As I gazed the sky, the temptation to bring out my gears from long storage was simply overpowering. Heck, why the wait? At least I will know if I can still tighten my mount's altitude bolt properly! As expected, it took me more than an hour in setting up after a long time of no imaging practice. Much of the delays were due to our beloved dog who obviously enjoyed pulling off the dangling wires from the mount.
I had to overlook the beautiful Orion beaming that time. Deciding on what H-alpha target was difficult as there were plenty of worthy choices. I settled on a relatively obscure IC443 and nearby SH2-249 nebulae. Framing both of them in my 3 degree field necessitated orienting the camera to north-is-up direction which was new to me. Clouds briefly interrupted a few shots but I was able to gather a 2-hour total exposure which was enough to quench my astro-imaging thirst.
I immediately processed the subs and in my eagerness, I was not careful in controlling some highlights and noise. Well, re-processing it sometime together with color data will be my project soon. But, it was definitely a good fun under the stars after long while.
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