rex.on.life
November is the month of the Pleiades!
Pleiades / M45 on a cold night from my primitive campsite in Northern VA. Very happy with how this turned out for using a tracker and 2.5hrs of exposure with the little 61mm scope.
Specs:
Subs: 43x215" at ISO 800
30 flats, 100 bias, 0 darks.
Total time: Total 2.5 hrs of integration time
Camera: Canon 6D
Scope: William Optics Zenithstar 61mm Doublet APO.
Mount: iOptron Skyguider Pro
Guidescope: Orion Mini 50mm w/ Orion Starshoot autoguider (Guiding in RA only).
Software:
Guided with PHD2
BackyardEOS for camera control
Stacked in DSS
Processed with Startools
Final refinements: Lightroom CC.
Background:
Historically, the Pleiades have served as a calendar for many civilizations. The Greek name “Pleiades” probably means “to sail.” In the ancient Mediterranean world, the day that the Pleaides cluster first appeared in the morning sky before sunrise announced the opening of the navigation season.
The modern-day festival of Halloween originates from an old Druid rite that coincided with the midnight culmination of the Pleiades cluster. It was believed that the veil dividing the living from the dead is at its thinnest when the Pleaides culminates – reaches its highest point in the sky – at midnight.
On a lighter note, the Zuni of New Mexico call the Pleiades the “Seed Stars,” because this cluster’s disappearance in the evening sky every spring signals the seed-planting season.
In both myth and science, the Pleiades are considered to be sibling stars. Modern astronomers say the Pleiades stars were born from the same cloud of gas and dust some 100 million years ago. This gravitationally bound cluster of several hundred stars looms some 430 light-years distant, and these sibling stars drift through space together at about 25 miles per second. Many of these Pleiades stars shine hundreds of times more brightly than our sun.
From: earthsky.org/favorite-star-patterns/pleiades-star-cluster...
November is the month of the Pleiades!
Pleiades / M45 on a cold night from my primitive campsite in Northern VA. Very happy with how this turned out for using a tracker and 2.5hrs of exposure with the little 61mm scope.
Specs:
Subs: 43x215" at ISO 800
30 flats, 100 bias, 0 darks.
Total time: Total 2.5 hrs of integration time
Camera: Canon 6D
Scope: William Optics Zenithstar 61mm Doublet APO.
Mount: iOptron Skyguider Pro
Guidescope: Orion Mini 50mm w/ Orion Starshoot autoguider (Guiding in RA only).
Software:
Guided with PHD2
BackyardEOS for camera control
Stacked in DSS
Processed with Startools
Final refinements: Lightroom CC.
Background:
Historically, the Pleiades have served as a calendar for many civilizations. The Greek name “Pleiades” probably means “to sail.” In the ancient Mediterranean world, the day that the Pleaides cluster first appeared in the morning sky before sunrise announced the opening of the navigation season.
The modern-day festival of Halloween originates from an old Druid rite that coincided with the midnight culmination of the Pleiades cluster. It was believed that the veil dividing the living from the dead is at its thinnest when the Pleaides culminates – reaches its highest point in the sky – at midnight.
On a lighter note, the Zuni of New Mexico call the Pleiades the “Seed Stars,” because this cluster’s disappearance in the evening sky every spring signals the seed-planting season.
In both myth and science, the Pleiades are considered to be sibling stars. Modern astronomers say the Pleiades stars were born from the same cloud of gas and dust some 100 million years ago. This gravitationally bound cluster of several hundred stars looms some 430 light-years distant, and these sibling stars drift through space together at about 25 miles per second. Many of these Pleiades stars shine hundreds of times more brightly than our sun.
From: earthsky.org/favorite-star-patterns/pleiades-star-cluster...