Double Cluster in Perseus, now featuriing Comet 103P/Hartley

[Martin Pugh]

Another fine example of a lovely open cluster.
In a departure from my usual multi-hour images, this is a simple RGB, 60 minutes each and synthetic luminance. As the 4degx4deg FOV was simply too big really, I have also cropped this one.

I treated this with a Star Spikes Pro, but reduced the impact by 50%, so I think its okay.

http://www.martinpughastrophotography.id.a u/images/Double-Cluster.jpg

cheers and thanks for looking

Martin

[TrevorW]

Nice one Martin, great colour, round stars, lovely flat background with no discernable gradient

I too use Star Spike Pro on occassions but IMHO with a double cluster like this the added diffractions spikes detract from the overall image in some ways

Just a personal preference

[desler]

I've been imaging a few clusters trying to achive a similar look to no avail at this point, A beautiful example for me to set a base line. Thank you for sharing.

Darren

[gregbradley]

Nicely done but probably even still too widefield to highlight the double cluster which is one of the nicest around.

I quite like the diffraction spikes myself.

Greg.

[Liz]

Great image Martin. :thumbsup:
If you did tried that that again tongiht, you would get Comet Hartley nestled in there. :)
Just saw an image from UK of the very same.

[Martin Pugh]

Thanks for the comments, particularly regarding the comet (Liz) - I thin I will definitely attempt to image that tonight.

cheers
Martin

[alexch]

Very nice, Martin. Definitely a pleasure to look at - like being at the eyepiece of a large dob. So smooth and without the "over-processed" look.

Thanks for sharing.
Alex

[multiweb]

Great field - looking foward to the inclusion of the comet. Should be interesting. :thumbsup:

[Alchemy]

In a word ..... Crisp.

[Martin Pugh]

Thanks everyone.

Comet? - Ah yes, the one I imaged from about 11.30pm last night through till dawn this morning.

Havent looked at the data yet, and it was moving away from the cluster, so I will have to superimpose it in a position where it was on around 7 Oct; I obviously want to try and keep it technically accurate.

I will also post a version of the cluster without the star spikes, see how it goes.

cheers
Martin

[Hagar]

Very nice clean image Martin, The star colour is lovely and the spikes, well, there is time when they just add that zing to an image and a star cluster is one of them. Beautifully done.

[SkyViking]

Thats a very nice image indeed. I like the smooth natural look, and I recall having gazed at the Double Cluster many times when I was living in the northern hemisphere. Thank you for sharing this!

[Martin Pugh]

Hello everyone

I have been looking forward to putting this together.

Thanks to Liz for bringing my attention to Comet Hartley. I imaged it all night a couple of nights ago but have positioned it as it appeared at 1.52am on 8 Oct, otherwise, it would have been outside of the Double Cluster FOV I posted.

Not a terribly impressive comet, and quite difficult to process this really. I had to do some internet research to find out what to expect, so I was pleased to see that my result was very similar to that elsewhere.

http://www.martinpughastrophotography.id.a u/images/Double-Cluster-and-103P_Hartley.jpg

Exposure details: RGB, 23 minutes each, with 60 second exposures at 80 second intervals.

Thanks for looking

cheers
Martin

[gregbradley]

Yeah that's a cool shot. It really makes it doesn't it.

Greg.

[iceman]

Wow how cool is that!

PS: I fixed the URL

[Martin Pugh]

Thanks Greg/Mike

I think it would have made for a great shot if the comet had a tail, but this was doesnt for some reason, just a balloon of teal colour.

I must stop just cutting and pasting the full URLs into IIS, and use TinyURL instead.

thanks for fixin' it up Mike
Martin

[Liz]

That looks excellent Martin. :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Weeellll ... so this is not the comet as it was in that spot but rather how it looked somewhere else :shrug: if so.... isn't this just a mock up then really?

Looks good though :thumbsup:

Mike

[Martin Pugh]

Hi Mike

not photographed a comet before huh?

even a 30 second exposure of a comet will show remarkable movement. So, if you wanted to take an image of a comet, represented as it was in the same fov, your exposures would have to be very short, and therefore, quite unusable.

Comet 3P/Hartley passed by the Double Cluster over about a 2 day period. I imaged the Double Cluster (the image posted) on 1 and 3 Oct, then I started a mosaic of the area 6-8 Oct. Comet moved through 7/8 Oct. So a mock up? Nah.

cheers
Martin

[strongmanmike]

Yeh I have imaged a comet before. I thought you had imaged the comet when it wasn't in the cluster and then pasted it in where it was supposed to have been on a particular date. Instead you imaged the comet when it was actually in the cluster and then pasted it into the cluster shot, taken earlier, in a position where it would have been at a single moment in time, this makes for a slightly more valid alignment capture to me, still a little composed but pretty close :)

Mike

[multiweb]

Great shot Martin. The comet real adds to the whole vista. Beautiful turquoise glow. Top work. :thumbsup:

@Mike: That's it! You are banned from adding Luminance data to colour data that was not taken on the same night. No more compositing. :lol: :P

[strongmanmike]

Aaaah...the things I usually image though don't move relative to the sky ;)