Archives for October 2021

Telescope: LXD75 SC8 @ f/6.3, LX65 mount, altaz mode

Camera: Stock Canon 600D, interval timer

Filter: GSO IR Blocking Filter

Guide scope: None

Exposure: 38x10sec, ISO 1600, saved as RAW

Darks: Internal (Long Exposure Noise Reduction On)

Flats: 32×1/25sec, Tee shirt flats taken at dusk

Average Light Pollution: Red zone, Bortle 8, poor transparency

Lensed Sky Quality Meter: 18.2

Stacking: Mean with a 1-sigma clip.

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: Deep Sky Stacker, Nebulosity, Photoshop

NGC 457 is one of my favorite open clusters in just about any size telescope. It makes a fine target for binoculars and small telescopes and becomes a very rich field in larger scopes. The two bright distinctive foreground stars makes it fairly easy to locate. In a small telescope it is worth taking some time with this field. At first your eye may only see the two bright foreground stars and a few of the brighter stars of the cluster. As your eyes relax you may start to see some of the fainter background stars and the cluster will begin to blossom into a beautiful field of stardust.

This is part of a series of images that I am taking to explore deepsky imaging using fairly basic equipment and techniques and this is the third image taken with my LX65. I have been very pleased with how well this system works for basic deep sky imaging.

NGC457 is currently well placed high in the northeast after sunset.

Telescope: LXD75 SC8 @ f/6.3, LX65 mount, altaz mode

Camera: Stock Canon 600D, interval timer

Filter: GSO IR Blocking Filter

Guide scope: None

Exposure: 37x10sec, ISO 1600, saved as RAW

Darks: Internal (Long Exposure Noise Reduction On)

Flats: 32×1/25sec, Tee shirt flats taken at dusk

Average Light Pollution: Red zone, Bortle 8, poor transparency

Lensed Sky Quality Meter: 18.2

Stacking: Mean with a 1-sigma clip.

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: Deep Sky Stacker, Nebulosity, Photoshop

Globular clusters are relics of the ancient universe and M13 is no exception with an estimated age of 12 billion years. Their great age is an indication of their unusual stability. One consequence of this stability is that any heavy elements that their stars have made remains buried in their cores and the cluster itself has little, if any, interstellar dust. M13 is one of the few globular clusters with a dust-like feature that can be seen as a dark lane extending to the upper left of the core. It is possible that this dust lane is not really associated with M13, but instead is an independent object that just happens to be in front of the cluster.

This is part of a series of images that I am taking to explore deepsky imaging using fairly basic equipment and techniques and this is the second image taken with my LX65.

M13 is currently well placed high in the west after sunset.