Messier 45. Old Friend. New Effort. Zenithstar 81
Messier 45. Old Friend. New Effort. Zenithstar 81
Note: I intentionally did not stretch the image as much as I could because I wanted to contrast the color of the stars in a black background to the blue nebulosity and enhance detail. Also, follow the straight blue swoop in the center-right part of M45 toward the right border of the image ... Zoom in ... Can you find the little, very distant edge-on galaxy?
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Messier 45
The Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters and Messier 45, are an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars in the north-west of the constellation Taurus. It is among the star clusters nearest to Earth, it is the nearest Messier object to Earth, and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky.
The cluster is dominated by hot blue and luminous stars that have formed within the last 100 million years. Reflection nebulae around the brightest stars were once thought to be left over material from the formation of the cluster, but are now considered likely to be an unrelated dust cloud in the interstellar medium through which the stars are currently passing. (Wikipedia.org)
Telescope: William Optics Zenithstar 81 Refractor
Mount: iOptron CEM25P
Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI294MC. Gain 120. Cooled to -5C.
Filter: Optolong L-Pro
Guiding: William Optics 50mm, 200mm FL, ASI290MC camera
Guiding Software: PHD2 Software
Site: Borrego Springs, CA USA, Bortle 4
Exposures: 60 x 120s Bin 1x1
Capture Software: APT
Processing: Pixinsight with Final Touchup in Photoshop CC
Polar Align: SharpCap
Messier 45. Old Friend. New Effort. Zenithstar 81
Messier 45. Old Friend. New Effort. Zenithstar 81
Note: I intentionally did not stretch the image as much as I could because I wanted to contrast the color of the stars in a black background to the blue nebulosity and enhance detail. Also, follow the straight blue swoop in the center-right part of M45 toward the right border of the image ... Zoom in ... Can you find the little, very distant edge-on galaxy?
----------------------------
Messier 45
The Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters and Messier 45, are an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars in the north-west of the constellation Taurus. It is among the star clusters nearest to Earth, it is the nearest Messier object to Earth, and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky.
The cluster is dominated by hot blue and luminous stars that have formed within the last 100 million years. Reflection nebulae around the brightest stars were once thought to be left over material from the formation of the cluster, but are now considered likely to be an unrelated dust cloud in the interstellar medium through which the stars are currently passing. (Wikipedia.org)
Telescope: William Optics Zenithstar 81 Refractor
Mount: iOptron CEM25P
Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI294MC. Gain 120. Cooled to -5C.
Filter: Optolong L-Pro
Guiding: William Optics 50mm, 200mm FL, ASI290MC camera
Guiding Software: PHD2 Software
Site: Borrego Springs, CA USA, Bortle 4
Exposures: 60 x 120s Bin 1x1
Capture Software: APT
Processing: Pixinsight with Final Touchup in Photoshop CC
Polar Align: SharpCap