M45 ‘Pleiades’
By Anton Winter
I took this image of the Messier 45 ‘Pleiades’ back on the 6th of December 2013 but only recently got around to processing the data. Processing this was a little challenging, particularly given that I did not take any dark frames or flats to reduce the noise and dust motes that are now visible in my optical train.
Image Details:
Captured from my suburban Sydney backyard on 6th December 2013 and made up of a mere 50 minutes of data capture. The sub-exposures are made up of the following:
- 10 x 2 minute
- 6 x 5 minute
Gear:
- Imaging Camera: Modified Canon 550D with an Astronomik CLS Clip In filter & Orion Field Flattener.
- Imaging Scope: Orion ED80T Carbon Fibre
- Guide Scope: Orion 80mm
- Guide Camera: Orion Starshoot Autoguider
- Mount: HEQ5 Pro GOTO
- Guiding: PHD
- Image capture: Nebulosity3
- Stacking and pre-processing: PixInsight
- Minor curve adjustments: Aperture3