M45 Pleiades Cluster

This is the first official image out of my observatory!

Image Details:

• Imaging Scope: AstroTelescopes 80mm ED Refractor
• Imaging Camera: Nikon D7000
• Guiding Scope: William Optics 66mm Petzval Refractor
• Guiding Camera: Orion Starshoot Autoguider
• Light Frames: 17*8 minutes @ ISO800
• Flat Frames: 40
• Bias Frames: 40
• Dark Frames: 7
• Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker
• Final single image processed in Photomatix Pro
• Tweaked in Adobe Lightroom

M45

Under clear skies last night (and some gusting wind) I again wrestled with my autoguiding setup. My new laptop present me with a blue screen of death which I click on the "PHD Target" button within the PHD app. It sees the DSI guide camera and brings an image down, it connects to the scope. When I start to calibrate, the PHD app locks up and when I kill it, a BSOD ensues. Outstanding. Third time out and I tried uninstalling and re-installing everything. I'm convinced it's a hardware issue.

Anyway, in between BSODs and system restarts, I targeted M45. The image here is 22 minutes of unguided two-minute exposures @ ISO1250. Stacked in DSS but processed on my iPad using the Snapseed App, which I like a lot.

M45 - Pleiades

Okay, so I have never really shot this cluster before. I'm quite happy with the result! The reflection nebula is clearly evident, and the stars within it are nicely focused. I could have done with a flat frame but will get one next time. As I said in my earlier post, the D7000 lets me focus very tightly now, and I think I can see the difference in the way that the detailed nebulosity has come out here.

Image Details:

• Imaging Scope: Astrotelescopes 80mm ED Refractor
• Imaging Camera: Nikon D7000
• Guiding Scope: William Optics 66mm Petzval Refractor
• Guiding Camera: Meade DSI-C
• Mount: Celestron CGEM
• Exposures: 12 * 3 minute lights, 5 * 3 minute darks
  
• ISO 800
• Aligned and Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker
• Post-Processing in GIMP (contrast, saturation and unsharp mask)

M45 Test Shot

So, last night I messed around with autoguiding. When my laptop battery died I took a few test snaps of various clusters. I had performed a two-star alignment, utilized three additional stars for calibration and had performed a precise polar alignment.

One interesting snap from last night is the shot above of the M45 Pleiades cluster is below. It's not wonderful, but this is the result of five four-minute exposures WITHOUT guiding. It's a testament to the CGEM mount for sure - four minute images without guiding and the stars are very nice and round. Managed to capture some nebulosity, too! (I have to say it's the best M45 shot I have taken, too!)

Pleiades (M45) Test Shot

Below is a test shot (actually my first ever attempt) of the Pleiades cluster. I only took around seven two-minute frames for this shot. Longer exposures would have revealed much better nebulosity around Merope (brighter star at bottom of the cluster) and Maia (star at the near top of the cluster). 4 minute exposures would have been grand. To be honest I had my guiding gear with me but was too busy chatting and mucking around to set it all up. Next time...

Image Details:

• William Optics 66MM Refractor
• Mounted on a Meade 8" LX200 Classic with Milburn Wedge
• Nikon D40 DSLR
• ISO800
  
• 7 *120 second light frames
• 4*120 second dark frames
• 8* flat frames
  
• Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker
• Level and curve adjustment in GIMP
  

Moon and Pleiades

Here is my pathetic attempt at capturing tonight's Moon grazing the Pleiades (M45) star cluster. I guess to get a really good shot you need to take a nice shot of the Moon and then superimpose it over a nice shot of the Pleiades???? I dunno. Shot below, 10 * 4 second exposures stacked.























At least it gives you an idea of how close they got to each other tonight.