ASTRO: NGC 2359 (Thor's helmet)

A picture from Berlin at last. Clear nights have been rare in the last few
month, actually there has not been a single completely clear night since I
moved to my new flat. On December 26 it was “clearish� again, with a closed
cloud cover shortly after NGC 2359 had culminated. Later clouds went away so
I got some more frames until NGC 2359 was only 14 degrees above horizon. I
had hoped to add some data the following night, but the sky started lousy
and then the clouds came again.
At least I can now image those low-flying objects while I could not really
get at anything below +10 degrees from my old rooftop terrace. The sky is
not much darker here (still well within Berlin), in this night the SQM-L
values were between 18.9mag and 19.0 mag.

Taken from Berlin with an 8� GSO RC at f/5.3 on a G11 mount, Trius SX694
camera, 6x15min Ha, 7x15min OIII. Resampled to 1,31�/pixel.

Stefan

That's darned good seeing for imaging that low. This one is right at my limit, not due to horizon issues but because seeing is almost always poor down this low.

Your weather might not be all that great but better than mine. I had only one useable night in December and it had clouds for a while in the middle that wiped out one object of the 5 I did that night. I've had some lousy months but never one in which I got only 4 usable objects, all in one night. One of those was just completing one started two months earlier but constantly hit by seeing or clouds during several attempts at finishing it. It's clear tonight though supposed to turn to snow by morning. Still a near full moon with snow on the ground means no imaging tonight.

Rick

Originally Posted by Stefan Lilge

A picture from Berlin at last. Clear nights have been rare in the last few
month, actually there has not been a single completely clear night since I
moved to my new flat. On December 26 it was “clearish� again, with a closed
cloud cover shortly after NGC 2359 had culminated. Later clouds went away so
I got some more frames until NGC 2359 was only 14 degrees above horizon. I
had hoped to add some data the following night, but the sky started lousy
and then the clouds came again.
At least I can now image those low-flying objects while I could not really
get at anything below +10 degrees from my old rooftop terrace. The sky is
not much darker here (still well within Berlin), in this night the SQM-L
values were between 18.9mag and 19.0 mag.

Taken from Berlin with an 8� GSO RC at f/5.3 on a G11 mount, Trius SX694
camera, 6x15min Ha, 7x15min OIII. Resampled to 1,31�/pixel.

Stefan