NGC7023 - The Iris Nebula. Shot using a Meade LX200 10" f/6.3 telescope at approx. f/4.7 using a SBIG ST-2000XM with a color filter wheel (CFW8a). 8 x 5 minutes luminance at 2x2 binned. Acquired using CCDOps. Aligned and combined in CCDSoft 5. Dark frames applied. DDP applied in AstroArt. Self guided by the SBIG ST-2000XM imager. I had an issue with the imager at the time I shot these images with the imager fogging the inside lens some and making the stars on the outer edge of the frame bloated... this was later fixed. It is very hard to balance the bright center star with the faint outer nebula.

First images from the new observatory http://www.pbase.com/bellwoodmder/skunk_hollow_observatory