Brrrr - wish I had one of these...

Good image Dave. Lots of detail, very sharp, good tracking.
Out of curiosity, does your mount put the target directly on the chip everytime?

Thanks for the comments folks. I snapped this after finishing the SN search so it was a bonus pic.

Its a tricky one though - the core is reasonably bright but the edges are faint. Processing is therefore a balance. I threw everything at it - high pass, low pass, background flattening and so on. But it turned out OK

Seanie - I'm still having a lash at a colour version - this has my heart broken. I've spent hours on it and there's more to go... But watch this space today and I'll see what I can do.

Michael - I usually get the target on the chip every time - but its rarely centered. I usually have a jog the mount a couple of arcminutes. Also, it depends how far the slew is from the last object. Ususally if its less than say 30 degress, the subject will be somewhere on the chip. More than 30 and I have to go hunting. But I generally slew to a bright star nearby - in this case Pollux. Then I center the star, synch the mount and slew to the dim object. In this case, it was an 8 degree slew and it got the eskimo within a few arcseconds of the center of the chip.

I'll eventually get around to really tweaking the mount because polar alignment is still not the best - I can get 3 minute no-trailing unguided exposures as it stands. Also, I was mulling over installing a mirror locking device on the C8 - mirror flop makes a huge difference. If I slew more than 30 deg, I have to refocus - and you see the image move a good few arcminutes during that process.

T-Point may help but the mirror flop will probably flummox it - since its probably a random non-repeatable movement.

Keith G - I think both our opinions are the same I like this shot and its probably a culmination of years (yes, years!) of hard work and skill-honing. The AP is only affected by wind if its a real gale - even then, you can salvage 50% or so of the images :shock:

I may send it in to the usual suspects

Cheers

Dave

Also, I was mulling over installing a mirror locking device on the C8 - mirror flop makes a huge difference.

Dave,
I'd be interested in discussing this with you sometime and how you would try to go about it.
Clear skies,