Maximizing dark sky benefit when travelling

[bhwolf]

Short version:  Any tips for maximizing the benefit of being at a dark site for only a few hours?  (Using mono CCD.)

I'm going to be travelling for work and will have roughly 4 or 5 hours at a dark site.  I'd like to go after M78/reflection nebula.  I can image it from home, but it's not as ideal due to moderate light pollution. 

Normally I'd create synthetic lum from RGB, but I wonder if I'd be better served getting all lum while there, then combine with binned RGB on subsequent nights at home.  Thoughts/opinions?

Thanks!
Brian

[Zocky]

I would go for Luminance and bin color. In 4 hours you can take 12x900 sec. Lum, and 4x300 sec. bin color (for each channel).