M92 Globular Cluster in Hercules

It was clear last night so I was able to set up my C11, spend several hours setting up the mount and the scope, faffing about with focus and guiding and calibration frames and all that sort of guff.

 

Then I pointed at M92, a globular cluster of stars in the constellation of Hercules. A grand sight. For all of 15 minutes before the clouds rolled in. Oh well. At least I got enough data to build this image.

 

The cluster lies at a distance of 26,700 light years from Earth and has an estimated mass of up to 330,000 solar masses. With an estimated age of 14.2 billion years – almost the same age as the universe itself – M92 is one of the oldest clusters known and possibly the single oldest globular in the Milky Way

 

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Telescope: Celestron C11-A XLT Schmidt Cassegrain OTA

Mount: SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro

 

Controller: ZWO ASIAIR Plus

Main Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro at -10C

Filter: Optolong L-Pro filter 1.25"

Filter Wheel: ZWO EFW 5 Mini

Focal reducer: TS Optics 0.63x

Focuser: ZWO EAF

Guide Camera: ZWO ASI174MM Mini guidecam

Guide via: ZWO OAG

 

Stacked from:

Lights 15 at 60 seconds, gain 101, temp -10C

Darks 30 at 60 seconds, gain 101, temp -10C

Flats 30 at 220 ms, gain 101, temp -10C

Dark Flats 30 at 220ms gain 101 temp -10C

 

Bortle 4 sky.

Integrated the saved frames in Astro Pixel Processor.

Processed in PixInsight

Labels added in Photoshop CS4

 

Done