The Pleiades Star Cluster - M45
First Light with New Orion 8" f/4 Astrograph

 

            
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 With its
            larger 1.5 degree field of view, the new instrument saw its first
            use this week, and for the first time I can frame this entire
            object in one shot. Guiding was done with a piggyback Stellarvue
            SV80s, another astrograph and a 2x Televue barlow.

            
Object Description:

            
One of the closest
            star clusters to Earth, wrapped in a blue haze of filamentary
            reflection nebulosity O and B type stars the primary illuminators.
            The nebula itself is NGC1432, which spans the entire field with
            a blue nebulosity. There are at least a dozen faint galaxies
            in this image, the most prominent in the lower right corner,
            UGC2838 - an 18th magnitude spindle 1.5 arcminutes in size.

Optics:  8" f/4 Newtonian Astrograph w/Baader MPCC Coma Corrector
Platform:  Astrophysics AP1200  
Camera:  Hutech Modified Canon XTi @ ISO800
Exposure:  12 x 5m
Location:  Payson, Arizona
Elevation:  5150 ft.
Sky:  Seeing  4/10, Transparency 9/10
Outside Temperature:  35F
Processing Tools:  Photoshop CS2, Images Plus 3.82
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