Updated: 12/20/2021
Date Posted: 9/23/2021

2014 Data:
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Date Taken: 10/25/2014, 10/26/2014
Scope: Planewave CDK 12.5 f/8, 2541mm
Camera: SBIG STL-11000 with Astrodon Tru-Balance E-Series Gen2 filters
Temp: -15C
Mount: Losmandy Titan
Guiding: SSAG, Celestron 80mm guide scope, 600mm.
Exposure: LRGB 115:100:90:85 (L) (N)x5m, binned 1x1. RGB each (N)x5m, binned 2x2

2021 Data:
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Date Taken: 9/7/2021, 9/9/2021, 9/10/2021, 9/12/2021
Scope: Planewave CDK 12.5 f/8, 2541mm
Camera: SBIG STL-11000 with Astrodon Tru-Balance E-Series Gen2 filters
Temp: -15C, -12C, -10C
Mount: Losmandy Titan
Guiding: On-axis via ONAG-XM and SX UltraStar at 2541mm. FocusLock real-time focus for focusing.
Exposure: LRGB, 420:170:170:160. Luminance 10min unbinned; RGB 5min binned 2x2.

Combined:
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Exposure LRGB, 535:270:260:345, a total of 23.5 hours.
Calibrated and Stacked with CCDStack2. Processed with CS4.

I re-shot M74, to test modifications made to the Titan mount to address DEC worm play. It seems to have worked. I only lost 2 subs due to guiding issues, although I lost a few more due to some intermittent clouds.
Transparency was a bit better back in 2014, which led to less background noise. I processed the 2021 data, and then did a sum combine with the 2014 data.
Overall this image is sharper than before with less color noise, due mostly to improved sharpening and processing techniques.

Update 12:29.2021:
Flatten background.