Tonight was unexpectedly clear, although the seeing was average at best. M42 was just scraping above the houses begging to be sketched! The lack of Moon was a bonus and once the heat haze from the chimneys was no longer making the seeing even worse, I spent a fabulous hour observing Jupiter, the Pleiades, the Hyades and finishing with M42. The nebulosity was clearly visible from the outset in the fast Dobsonian and a 24mm eyepiece. With greater dark adaption the fainter nebula became visible and…

A live stream in Sharpcap. Click “Read More” below to watch.

    Integration time (running total):
    * OSC 13 X 120s (26m0s)
    * OSC 11 X 30s (5m30s)
    * OSC 11 X 10s (1m50s)
    * Total: 33m20s
    
    Integration time target
    * Target: TBC hours
    * Progress: TBC%

This is really just the start of a project which might run of of darkness and altitude this year and have to be finished next year! What is remarkable is the result from just a little over half an hour, made possible by the QHY268C camera and the power of BlurXterminator and…