While casting about for a deep-space object to image on a summer night, I opened CCDNavigator, which showed me LBN 438 near the top of its list of large targets.
LBN 438 is a dusty nebula in the constellation Lacerta. Although it is listed in Lynds "Bright" Nebula catalog, it is very faint. I acquired six hours of exposure on the first night, then went back for six more the following night. The sky was very clear and steady both nights, which helped a great deal.
| Exposure |
• 12.8 hours (77 X 10 minutes) @ -15°C • Dusk flats • Camera position angle: 90° |
| Processing |
• With PixInsight: ☞ Calibrate, star-align, integrate subframes ☞ TGV Denoise ☞ Histogram transformation ☞ Curves • Final tweaking and sizing in Photoshop CS6 |
| Date and Location |
• August 31 and September 1, 2022 • Louisa County, Virginia, USA |
|
Equipment |
• TMB-130SS APO refractor @ f/7 on an A-P 1200 mount • ZWO ASI-1600MC Pro color camera • Guided with a ZWO ASI-120M camera on a 60mm f/5 scope • Imaging and autoguiding with MaxIm DL 6.20 • Automated image acquisition with ACP Observatory Control |
Updated May 23, 2023