Hot and humid night. Used the Orion heating strap on the objective lense and it kept it dry for the night. Images were captured with Sony a330 DSLR. Prime focus on F/4. Imaged m27, the Dumbell nebula for the first time. Other images are M13 with a very faint NGC6207 on the left of the frame, M57, and M5 (with a satellite passing through). Observed M101, M82, and M51 in Ursa Major, but there is just too much scattered light pollution in that area of the sky at my location to get a good exposure of those targets.
Aug
1
2011
Looks like PEC (Periodic Error Correction) is needed. Look at the first image of M27: the stars have slight, curved trails. I will run PEC on the mount and try again. The Orion Dew Zapper is invaluable!