Deep-sky targets, long integrations, and everything that went wrong along the way. Shot under Bortle 5 skies, whenever the clouds allow.
Three clear nights in a row is rare enough here that I dropped everything else. Two-panel mosaic, dual-band filter, and a lot of patience with gradient removal on the eastern edge.
A short note on why my M31 from last year looked plastic, and how a gentler curve plus star reduction at the end fixed most of it.
Off-axis guiding sounded like overkill until flexure ruined a whole night of data. Here's the setup that finally gives round stars at 600mm.
M51, M101 and a stubborn attempt at the Leo Triplet. Short nights, lots of moon, still worth it.