November 21, 2024

M45 – The Pleiades in Taurus

M45 – The Pleiades in Taurus

Telescope: Meade SN6 Comet Tracker at f/3.6, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: Full Spectrum Modified Nikon D5300, Baader Mk III MPCC

Filter: Orion Imaging Skyglow Filter

Guide scope: Orion 50mm, ZWO ASI120MM mini

Exposure: 31x60sec, ISO 200, saved as RAW

Darks: Internal (Long Exposure Noise Reduction On)

Flats: 32×1/10sec, Tee shirt flats taken at dusk

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

Lensed Sky Quality Meter: 17.9 mag/arc-sec^2

Stacking: Mean with a 2-sigma clip.

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: Backyard Nikon, Deep Sky Stacker, Nebulosity, Photoshop

M45 is a big, beautiful, bright open cluster that is easily visible to the naked eye and is a delight in binoculars and small telescopes. Given the poor sky conditions I was surprised that I captured any of the reflection nebula, but it does a fair job of showing what the cluster looks like from a dark sky site. Interestingly, the nebula is not associated with the cluster, it just happens to be passing through a dusty region of space.