I wasn't sure where to post this since there is no "What went wrong with my image" category... Feel free to move it if needed...
I've had 6 clear nights with almost no moon a few weeks ago and I've squandered them...
I was anxious to image something in Orion but it doesn't clear my trees until 02:00 so I imaged
These two images were taken over the same three nights with the same calibration frames applied to each. 50 flats, 50 dark flats and 100 bias frames were used. There are a couple things going on here...
You can clearly see the semicircular artifact in the upper right corner of M78 and there is a streak or smear type artifact in
Problem #2: Since the images were taken together, why do you suppose the flats didn't seem to correct M78 very well???
This has been pretty frustrating to say the least. I am open to suggestions...
Larry