[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 = Dunlop 289 = Melotte 107 = Collinder 248), type 'g', in Centaurus

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 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.