This is an area I’ve imaged before using the Canon 350D, Zenithstar 70 and Astrotrac but this time it’s with the QHY9 mounted on the Avalon. Last night was clear after dark and after spending some time fine tuning the guiding I set the camera recording 10 minute frames and retired to the warmth and comfort of the sofa. Emerging at 1:30 it was just starting to cloud over so I terminated the sequence and took 20 flat frames using my light panel.
A dynamic Background Extraction routine in PixInsight removed most of the unsightly light pollution on the left of earlier versions of this image. I’ve also made the image a lot lighter to show more of the faint nebulosity and removed the star spikes.
Despite the stiff breeze, the guiding worked extremely well with Maxim reporting star roundness figures of around 0.05 which is better than I’ve seen using any equipment previously.