Saw this cluster in "The Sky 6" last night and because of the full moon I gave up on imaging the Helix and Imaged this. (Why is it that whenever we have perfect slies. 3 in a row we have a full moon ? Grrrrrrrrrr)
Anyway what a wonderfull cluster. Looks like little gems clustered together...
NGC 2516 is a very bright compact naked-eye open cluster of about a hundred stars 4500 light years away.
The central star is a fifth-magnitude red giant (or perhaps orange), which is easily seen in telescopes.
Its 15 x 2 min RGB Exposures with SBIG ST2000XM, Astrodon Color Filters through a Takahashi FS-102 at f8. It would make a great target for DSLR's as it does not need a lot of exposure.
Full size version is here:
http://www.dslrfocus.com/NGC2516LRG.jpg
Best Regards
Chris Venter