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dugnsuz
07-08-2007, 10:47 PM
Hi all,
Clearish night last night, so decided to pull an impromptu imaging session.
But, got caught up in alignment/tracking issues.
In the process managed to get 7x30sec iso400 shots of an unidentified cluster above the southern cross/ milky way region!!!??? (sorry, was trying to balance scope and not paying attention to sky - astrophotographer's curse!!)
Pic has come out quite well, but I have no idea of the name of the cluster.
It must be well known enough to see in my 8x50 finder.
Those 2 stars to the left should be good pointers!?
Can you chaps help me out?:shrug:
Taken with ED80 f7.5, Prime Focus
Cheers
Doug:thumbsup:

Arcturus
07-08-2007, 11:10 PM
It's NGC 6231, The Northern Jewel Box. An open cluster in Scorpius.

The two 'pointers' are ζ1 and ζ2 Sco.

Excellent pic, by the way.

Ric
07-08-2007, 11:24 PM
A great looking image Doug, you've captured some nice colours in the stars.

Cheers

ballaratdragons
07-08-2007, 11:29 PM
Very nice image Doug :thumbsup:

Here is the culprit: http://seds.org/messier/xtra/ngc/n6231.html

What camera did you use Doug? You have very nice stars!

dugnsuz
08-08-2007, 07:24 AM
Thanks a lot guys:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
Ken - that was taken with my one and only Pentax ist-D DSLR and ED80.
I had around 24 pics - cut them back to 7 decent (2 of which were really good)and stacked those.
Also used a "reduce star size" action in PS.
Cheers
Doug:thumbsup:

Dr Nick
08-08-2007, 04:49 PM
Nice shot! ;)

If you look closely, does this cluster look like orion to any of you guys?