ASTRO: Leo Trio in LRGB

Last night wasn't scheduled to be a good observing night according to
the usual sources (NWS, Clear Sky Clocks etc). But it looked to me
like there was a chance of clearing so I set up my imaging gear
anyway.

By dark it was getting cloudier and cloudier, having looked pretty
good only an hour before. Still I was reluctant to take things apart;
it was still pretty early.

Around 8pm it was clear, so I went to work on the Leo Trio.

The seeing was better than average, I was getting about 3.5 arc-sec
stars during focus runs. Usually they are bit bigger from my backyard.

Because it was so transparent, the moon didn't bother me too much,
which is good because I was not using narrowband filters (straight
LRGB for the galaxies last night).

I racked up 4 hours and 10 minutes of total exposure time. I used my
AP155EDF scope and SBIG ST10XME camera. I had my AP80mm guide scope
piggybacked atop and guided with an ST7E.

http://www.rdcrisp.darkhorizons.org/m65_trio_page.htm


This Galaxy imaging is pretty fun. I still like big nebulae better,
but this is galaxy season now, so it is time to get into them again.

This was also the first time I have used Russ Croman's Sigma Reject
Plugin for Maxim DL. It is a lot more convenient to use a plugin than
a standalone program for sigma combining as I have been doing for the
past two years. So far the convenience factor is really high, so I
will be trying it on some more images. Thank you, Russ, for making a very
nice program that is easier to use than the standalone alternative.

The LRGB filters are not so bad after all. I might even get to like
them once I get used to them again.