The Trifid and North American Nebula
under pristine dark skies of Happy Jack
Orion 8" f/4 Astrograph

 
 The
            wind had blown the atmosphere clear, and I was able to get in
            two hour long exposures last saturday up at our observatory in
            Happy Jack under what measured at 21.6 mag/sqrarc second skies.
            The Trifid was setting in the west, and a last chance stab at
            some summer shooting, since our monsoon takes that all away every
            year. At the zenith, the North American Nebula could be seen
            easily naked eye including the very dim Gulf of Mexico region.
            I was able to get in two one hour exposures on each subject before
            we were shut down by gale force winds the rest of the night.
            Here are the results of this session!
 

            
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Optics:  8" f/4 Newtonian Astrograph w/Baader MPCC Coma Corrector
Platform:  Homemade GEM with Byers Starmaster Drive 
Camera:  Hutech Modified Canon XTi @ ISO800
Exposure:  12 x 5m
Location:  Happy Jack, Arizona
Elevation:  6850 ft.
Sky:  Seeing  6/10, Transparency 10/10
Outside Temperature:  35F
Processing Tools:  Photoshop CS2, Images Plus 3.82
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