[firstlight (Tony)]

I wanted to have another go of this cluster after I mucked up the framing the previous morning, the only thing was the fog was starting to roll in. I set up to have a go through the mist when it suddenly vanished and I was able to get an hour and 45 minutes. I though I over did it shooting at ISO 800 and 15 minute frames because when DSS spat it out it was nearly white. Levels and curves in Photoshop really brought out the nebulosity. I'm not an accomplished astroimager and stand in awe of the posts here, but this is my best shot and one I'm most proud of.


M45 (the Pleiades Cluster, the Seven Sisters, Subaru) in Taurus from the Queensland Astrofest on 16/08/2012. NEQ6 mount, Williams Optics 110mm Megrez @ f4.76, fl 523mm, Canon Modded 450D (Baader IR/UV cut filter), Cold Box (20° below ambient, ~-20°), 7 x 15 minute sub-frames (1 hour 45 minutes total), ISO 800. Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker with 5 Dark frames, 20 Flat Fields, and 20 Bias frames, levels and curves processed in PhotoShop CS5, cropped 20%.