Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cancer (Cnc)  ·  Contains:  Beehive cluster  ·  M 44  ·  NGC 2632  ·  Praesepe
M44 Open Cluster in Cancer, Mike Oates
M44 Open Cluster in Cancer
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M44 Open Cluster in Cancer

M44 Open Cluster in Cancer, Mike Oates
M44 Open Cluster in Cancer
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M44 Open Cluster in Cancer

Equipment

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Acquisition details

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Description

A very quick image to take when compared to nebulae and galaxies. Just used RGB filters at Bin 2x2. North is at the top.

You may wondering how I got the diffraction spikes with a refractor? Well I think for some objects these spikes can enhance the image. But I don't like the idea of adding them afterwards in Photoshop. So instead I made a spider similar to one that is fitted to Newtonian telescope so that the spikes are produced in the telescope, so no post processing required.

As the spikes take light that was destined to form the round star image is now spread out, this actually de-saturates the stars core so they are not burned out and they retain the stars colour much better. Also the diffraction spikes produced this way are much more natural looking.

I would be interested to know what your thoughts are about this. Does it improve the image? I can't show you how it would look without the spikes as these are the only subs I took.

Mike

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M44 Open Cluster in Cancer, Mike Oates