NGC869/884 - Double Cluster

[Paramount]

Hi All
The sky was clear for a few hours the other night, but as the moon was up I thought I'd have a go at star clusters so I decided on the double cluster. This was taken with a Takahashi FSQ106ED at f5, FLI ML8300 at -35c on a Paramount ME autoguided by Lodestar and OAG.
Red 30x5 minutes
Green 29x5 minutes
Blue 25x5 minutes
The discrepancy between the number of sub frames was because of a meridian flip (at the end of the green run) and mist and cloud after 25 frames of the blue run
RBI annihilator was used for the raw frames and matching darks but not for the flats and their darks as the short exposure times negate the necessity for RBI resolution.
Processing just consisted of levels and curves and gradient removal
I have done a wider field version of this last year which can be seen on the star cluster page of the image gallery on my website
http://www.imagingtheheavens.co.uk for comparison
The full size high resolution image can be seen at the following link
http://www.pbase.com/imaging_the_heavens/image/138881634/original
Thanks for looking
Best wishes
Gordon

[Ross G]

Hi Gordon,

Looks good.

Nice looking sharp stars and I like the colour.


Ross.

[SkyViking]

That's a very nice image. This is one of my old favourites from when I lived in the Northern hemisphere. I think this is one of the DSO's I looked at the most, back when I got my first telescope. Lots of good memories. Thanks for the view.