California Nebula

This one was especially tricky. It just about fits into the field of view of the Dwarf 3’s camera, but it has to be precisely aligned. Unfortunately, the GoTo software of the scope did not always center the target, so significant portions were being chopped off. I tried several short runs in an attempt to determine exactly what the camera was picking up. It was either on target or slightly off. But when it was off target, it was fairly consistent.

The first “complete” run was a series of 15-second exposures. I wasn’t satisfied with the results, though. It lacked the detail that I thought it should have. So, on the next run I used 60-second exposures. The detail was better, but the alignment was off. Both sessions were nearly a month apart, and I was running out of time and good weather to shoot another series.

So, I decided to combine the two runs that I had and hope for the best.

I think it came out OK, but I’m certain that it can be better. I will definitely be revisiting this target in the future.