Caldwell 34 – The Witch’s Broom and Pickering’s Triangle in HOO

Rare are nights of clear skies and then two in a row allowed me to capture over 7 hours of data of the Western Veil or Filamentary nebula – it has many names.

The imaging was done on my “portable” rig powered by my Baudens 240WHr power tank. It’s the first time I have used it seriously for an imaging.

Guiding with the ASI120mm and 30mm guide scope was fantastic, the ASIAIR reported sub 1 arc-second all night with periods of sub-0.6. The HEQ5 really works well with a short focal-length refractor.

This was the first time I levelled the tripod before levelling the mount. If that is the trick, I’m sticking to it. The ASIAIR PA routine is very quick and simple too.

Image Details: 300sec subs @ gain 200, 40x Ha, 45x  Oiii, ASI1600mm Pro and filter set, Altair Astro 70mm ED-T + 0.8 FFFR, on my ageing but trusty HEQ5 managed by an ASIAIR Pro.

Processed in Pixinsight.

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