ASTRO: Merope Nebula - part of NGC 1435 & the Pleiades

Bright moonlight and a need for sleep let me to make this a very short
exposure, so this image is pretty noisy. This was the last image of the
night at around 3am on Nov 11, 2007. This was a 5:1:1:2 minute LRGB exposure
with STL-1301E and 20-inch RC working at around F/5. I also was less than
fully successful removing the monster bloom from Merope. This will go back
on the "re-do list", but for right now this is what I have.

George N

George Normandin wrote:

Bright moonlight and a need for sleep let me to make this a very short
exposure, so this image is pretty noisy. This was the last image of the
night at around 3am on Nov 11, 2007. This was a 5:1:1:2 minute LRGB exposure
with STL-1301E and 20-inch RC working at around F/5. I also was less than
fully successful removing the monster bloom from Merope. This will go back
on the "re-do list", but for right now this is what I have.

George N

Pretty darned good for so little time. See the links below for what
7.75 hours at f/5.3 can do to this nebula.

If you haven't seen the recent APOD image of M45 by Tony Hallas take a
look, he used 7.75 hours of data, most of it color data by the way.

APOD Link:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap071122.html

Link to original image:
http://astrophoto.com/M45WF.htm

Rick

--
Correct domain name is arvig and it is net not com. Prefix is correct.
Third character is a zero rather than a capital "Oh".

that came out very nice George


"George Normandin" wrote in message
...
Bright moonlight and a need for sleep let me to make this a very short
exposure, so this image is pretty noisy. This was the last image of the
night at around 3am on Nov 11, 2007. This was a 5:1:1:2 minute LRGB
exposure with STL-1301E and 20-inch RC working at around F/5. I also was
less than fully successful removing the monster bloom from Merope. This
will go back on the "re-do list", but for right now this is what I have.

George N

........
If you haven't seen the recent APOD image of M45 by Tony Hallas take a
look, he used 7.75 hours of data, most of it color data by the way.
.........

Rick,

Thanks for the link! That really shows the extent of the nebula.

7.75 hours is about the total of our clear weather for the past two months
here!

Maybe when I retire next year I'll have time for exposures like that.

George N

George Normandin wrote:


Maybe when I retire next year I'll have time for exposures like that.

Don't count on it. I retired in 2005 and am now thinking of finding a
job just so I can get a vacation to have time to get caught up.

Rick
--
Correct domain name is arvig and it is net not com. Prefix is correct.
Third character is a zero rather than a capital "Oh".