From: "Tim" <tjp314@pacbell.net>

Date: January 24, 2006 9:46:58 AM MST

To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Going deep

Hi all:

I'm hoping I'll have another clear night tonight where I can try imaging with my cameras 

again.  I had a great clear night Thursday, but my scope kept jiggling when the SBIG tried 

calibrating the Nexstar 9.25 GPS mount (though it had worked flawlessly a couple days 

earlier).  Something was loose or my balance weights were causing harmonic oscillations.  I'll 

try setting up the same way I did when I had success last week, next time!

But whereas the guiding wasn't sufficient for the SBIG through the 9.25, the Flea did pretty 

well on the piggyback Megrez 80 II SD.  

I took a series of 30- second esposures of the Crab Nebula.  Most of them showed some 

motion due to the mount shaking.  But one was sharp, so I stretched it to see how deep it 

went.  (I also recently received Voyager 4.0 in the mail, which can display stellar magnitudes).  

It looks like the faintest starts I recorded were around 13.8, maybe a bit fainter!  

Not bad for a color camera, 30 seconds exposure and an 80mm aperture!

-Tim.