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

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