Telescope: Meade 10” LX850 ACF @ f/8, Orion Atlas EQ-G
Camera: QHY 367c Pro, GSO IR Blocking Filter
Guide scope: Astro-Tech 60mm, ASI120MM Mini, PHD2
Exposure: 26x180sec, gain 2800, offset 50, -10C, saved as Raw16/FITS
Darks: 32x180sec, gain 2800, offset 50, -10C, saved as Raw16/FITS
Flats: 64×0.250sec, tee shirt flats taken at dusk
Average Light Pollution: Red zone, Bortle 8, poor transparency, smoke, haze
Lensed Sky Quality Meter: 18.0
Stacking: Mean with a 1-sigma clip.
White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic
Software: SharpCap Pro, Deep Sky Stacker, Nebulosity, Photoshop
M2 is a big, beautiful globular cluster that is well placed in the eastern sky in late summer and early fall. It is an easy target for a small telescope. Under dark skies it can even be glimpsed without a telescope or even binoculars. M2 is about 37,500 light years away and lies beyond the galactic center. Like most globular clusters M2 is an ancient relic of the early universe with an estimated age of about 13 billion years.
M2 is currently well placed in the eastern sky during the early evening.
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