The Pearl Cluster

[TrevorW]

Target: NGC 3766 The Pearl Cluster

Camera: Canon 350d modified, CLS clip filter
Exposure Capture: DLSR Focus,
Scope: GSO CF RC200
EFR: f/8
Mount: EQ6 Pro
Exposure Setting: Prime focus, @ ISO800 ICNR off Custom WB
Exposures: 8 @ 360s lights taken between 8:00 and 12:00pm total 48min 12/02/2010
Seeing: no moon, slight wind,
Guiding: Orion Starshoot Autoguider using PHD with ED80
Focus: DSLR Focus Bahitov mask
Stacking: DSS 5 darks no flats
Processing: PS CS3,

Open Cluster NGC 3766 (= Lacaille III.7 (http://seds.org/messier/xtra/history/lacaille.html) = Dunlop 289 = Melotte 107 = Collinder 248), type 'g', in Centaurus (http://www.seds.org/Maps/Stars_en/Fig/centaurus.html)

ight Ascension 11 : 36.1 (h:m)
Declination -61 : 37 (deg:m)
Distance 5.5 (kly)
Visual Brightness 5.3 (mag)
Apparent Dimension 12 (arc min)
Discovered by Lacaille in 1752.
The considerable southern open cluster NGC 3766 was discovered by Abbe Lacaille (http://seds.org/messier/xtra/Bios/lacaille.html) on March 5, 1752 from South Africa.
The red nebulosity you can see starting to appear on the right of NGC 3766 is from the nearby emission nebula Lambda Centauri.
NGC 3766 is a very dense open cluster and shimmers like a Pearl which is how it got it's nickname, "The Pearl Cluster."
This is a good binocular target but can also be glimpsed with the naked eye from dark skies.

[duncan]

Hi Trevor,

Excellent shot. Everything looks great. I'm still waiting to get my new baby out and about. Wet Season Blues up here in Weipa,LOL

At least i can admire all the excellent shots from IIS Members.
Cheers:thumbsup:

[telemarker]

Top shot Trevor. One thing I like about images of open clusters is lots of different star colours which your image has in abundance. :thumbsup:

[CoolhandJo]

Now that is a good image! The framing was done well to capture the centre and the two left prominant stars. There is very little noise in this image also. Colours look just about perfect, and the natural diffraction spikes finish it off perfectly. The bottom right corner shows a slight shade variation (maybe flats next time), but doesnt detract from the image. Nice (might turn my attention to Star clusters too!)

[multiweb]

Nice one Trev. Beautiful colors. :thumbsup:

[TrevorW]

Thanks Duncan Keith Dr Paul and Marc

there are a lot of open clusters Dr Paul and some really nice ones

[spearo]

Lovely colors
well done
frank

[Garyh]

Brought out the colors nicely Trev, Did you loos a bunch of exposures through the night over the 4 hours?
cheers

[TrevorW]

Thanks Frank and Gary

No Gary this was one of two images captured same night plus darks etc I did loose a couple of frames and had some issues framing which wasted time

[danielsun]

A nice colored cluster, well done Trevor. :thumbsup:

Cheers Daniel.

[TrevorW]

Thanks Dan

[Robh]

Very nice!
One of my favourite visual targets.
That concentrated central region looks great in your image and also the colour mix of stars.

Regards, Rob

[Ric]

That's a top shot Trevor, I can see how it got its name.

Cheers

[TrevorW]

Thanks Ric we could say it's a pearler mate

[leon]

Trevor it is a top shot mate, ;) and as others have said the colors are spot on.

Now may I be so bold as to ask, is this a very tight crop of the region, if so, I, IMHO enjoy a much wider field of view, but Trev, that is only my view. :shrug:

Other than that well done indeed. :thumbsup:

Leon :thumbsup:

[TrevorW]

Hi Leon

no problem

this is not a crop

this is the field of view I get with the RC

I have a .8 reducer and are still working out what size targets I should use it on