NGC 1245 – Open Cluster in Perseus

Telescope: Unitron 510 5” f/16 refractor, Atlas EQ-G

Camera: Canon EOS Ra full frame DSLR

Filter: 2” Baader Fringe Killer (minus V)

Guide scope: Williams Optics 50mm Guidescope, ASI290MM, PHD

Exposure: 16x60sec, ISO 1600, saved as RAW

Darks: Internal (Long Exposure Noise Reduction)

Flats: 64x1/125s sky flats taken at dusk

Average Light Pollution: Bortle 8, fair transparency

Lensed Sky Quality Meter: 18.5 mag/arc-sec^2

Stacking: Mean with a 1-sigma clip

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: Backyard EOS, Deepsky Stacker, Nebulosity, Photoshop

NGC 1245 is a relatively faint but rich open cluster in central Perseus. It may be a tad faint for small telescopes, but blossoms into a fine patch of stardust in larger telescopes.

NGC 1245 is currently well placed in the evening sky and is high overhead in the northeast as the sky darkens.