The Merope Nebula in M45
with 10" f/3.9 Astrograph
Uploaded 2/9/18

This fairly deep shot of the Merope nebula is the bottom "bowl" star of the Plieades star cluster. Nebulosity is generally blue due to reflection in the hot stars forming the cluster, however as you can see to the lower right the dust is turning brown from its distance from those stars and the obscuration here even makes the stars all appear quite yellow or brownish. There is one bright galaxy on the right side, an SC spiral galaxy that is 18th magnitude.
Select an image size for a larger full size view: 1400 x 1200
Instrument: 10" f/3.9 Orion Astrograph Newtonian with Baader MPCC Mount: Astrophysics 1200 QMD Camera: Canon XTi modified with Type 1 filter by Hutech Guider: Meade DSI Pro w/80mm piggyback refractor Exposure: 90m Location: Payson, Arizona, Elevation: 5150 ft. Sky: Seeing FWHM = 2 arcsec , Transparency 9/10 Outside Temperature: 35 F Image Processing Tools: Maxim DL6: Calibration, deblooming (Starizona Debloomer), aligning, stacking PixInsight: Curves, Deconvolution Photoshop CS2: Curves, Color Correction, Gradient removal (Grad Xterminator), Cleanup HOME GALAXIES EMISSION NEBS REFLECTION NEBS COMETS GLOBULARS OPEN CLUST PLANETARIES LINKS