Elephant's Trunk Nebula

Early July wasn’t exactly prime imaging season—short nights, a bright Moon, and clouds everywhere. In other words, the perfect opportunity for a first light with some “new” gear.

This session marked the debut of a recently acquired astro-modded Canon 550D. It’s definitely seen better days, but the price was too good to pass up. It was so beat up that I even had to 3D-print a body cap because the original one was missing, leaving the camera’s internals exposed.

I also planned to add an IDAS LPS-P2 to the imaging train. Planned being the key word. The filter only made it into the setup on the second night because, on night one, I completely forgot to thread it onto the coma corrector before assembling everything.

A proper facepalm moment… but I guess we’ve all been there. 🤦 Clear skies don’t help much when the operator is the weakest link.