bnw12
Cassiopeia: Ruchbah, Navi, and Shedar vicinity
The 'W' of Cassiopeia has always been one of my favorite constellations - maybe because I could always spot it as a kid.
This extent contains the middle three stars of the 'W' - Ruchbah (blue, bottom), Navi (blue, upper left), and Shedar (yellow, upper right). The center star of the 'W', Navi, illuminates the Gamma Cassiopeiae Nebulae (IC 59 and IC 63) a combination of red emission and blue reflection nebulae. The red/pink emission nebula below Shedar is the Pacman Nebula (IC 11 or NGC 281). And to the right of Ruchbah is the Owl or E.T. Cluster (NGC 457); the owl or E.T. is upside down here.
Fujifilm X-T10, Samyang 135mm f/2.0 ED UMC @ f2.0, ISO 1600, 35 x 60 sec, tracking with iOptron SkyTracker Pro, stacking with DeepSkyStacker, editing with Astro Pixel Processor and GIMP, taken on Oct. 23, 2019 under Bortle 3/4 skies and thin cloud cover.
Thin cloud cover was present most of the time that I imaged and acted as a diffusion filter for the larger stars. I kind of like this effect that emphasizes big stars, especially for this extent where the nebulae are fairly small for a focal length of 135mm, although I'd always prefer clear skies to a natural diffusion filter. Even though my tracking was spot-on (good balance, polar alignment, and a charged SkyTracker), I wasn't able to use about half of my subs because of clouds.
Cassiopeia: Ruchbah, Navi, and Shedar vicinity
The 'W' of Cassiopeia has always been one of my favorite constellations - maybe because I could always spot it as a kid.
This extent contains the middle three stars of the 'W' - Ruchbah (blue, bottom), Navi (blue, upper left), and Shedar (yellow, upper right). The center star of the 'W', Navi, illuminates the Gamma Cassiopeiae Nebulae (IC 59 and IC 63) a combination of red emission and blue reflection nebulae. The red/pink emission nebula below Shedar is the Pacman Nebula (IC 11 or NGC 281). And to the right of Ruchbah is the Owl or E.T. Cluster (NGC 457); the owl or E.T. is upside down here.
Fujifilm X-T10, Samyang 135mm f/2.0 ED UMC @ f2.0, ISO 1600, 35 x 60 sec, tracking with iOptron SkyTracker Pro, stacking with DeepSkyStacker, editing with Astro Pixel Processor and GIMP, taken on Oct. 23, 2019 under Bortle 3/4 skies and thin cloud cover.
Thin cloud cover was present most of the time that I imaged and acted as a diffusion filter for the larger stars. I kind of like this effect that emphasizes big stars, especially for this extent where the nebulae are fairly small for a focal length of 135mm, although I'd always prefer clear skies to a natural diffusion filter. Even though my tracking was spot-on (good balance, polar alignment, and a charged SkyTracker), I wasn't able to use about half of my subs because of clouds.