This image depicts the Starfish Cluster (Messier 38 (M38), also known as NGC1912) which is an Open Cluster of stars in the constellation of Auriga.  This star cluster is approximately 4,380 light years from Earth, with a diameter of approximately 13 light years (for reference, our solar system is a small fraction of a light year).

An open cluster is a star cluster made up of tens to a few thousand stars that were formed from the same giant molecular cloud and are all roughly the same age.  There are more than 1100 open clusters in the Milky way galaxy, and they are loosely bound by mutual gravitation attraction as they orbit the galactic center of the Milky way galaxy.

This open cluster is comprised of about 100 stars in the “Cluster” itself.  As for the total image field of view, the software system I use has an analysis tool, and it indicates 4,583 identifiable stars (matching the Gaia database) for this small field of view (which is ~54’ x 34’) – For reference, this field of view is slightly bigger than the moon, which has a diameter of ~31 arcmin (31’).

These pictures were shot with the IDAZ Dual Narrowband filter which is great for heavy light pollution areas (like mine), moonlight, and allows light transmission in two main frequency regions:
1.     Hydrogen Alpha (Ha) (red) at 656.3 nm with a bandwidth of 15nm
2.     Oxygen III (Oiii) (blue) at 500.7 nm with a bandwidth of 35nm

This image was processed in the one shot color format (OSC).  These images that make up this picture were collected on March 26th & 27th, 2024, a couple of nights after the full moon (97% average light).  I was shooting opposite the moon these nights.   ·       

Celestron Edge HD 8” Setup
o   Mount: EQ6R-Proo   Telescope: Celestron Edge HD 8” with Celestron 0.7 Reducer – Focal Length is 1422mm with F7 aperture
o   Guiding: Celestron OAG (Off-Axis Guider) and ZWO 290MM camera
o   ZWO ASI2600MC Pro; Camera cooled to -10 deg C, with IDAZ Duo-Band Narrowband Light Pollution Reduction Filtero   Bortle-9 – South Los Angeles shot from my backyard
o   Integration Time: 4 Hours; Lights (48 @ 300 seconds); Darks (20 @ 300 seconds); Flats (30) & Dark Flats (30)·       
Image processing
o   Image Processing: Pixinsight – Using videos from multiple youtube teachers and website.  @Cosgrove’sCosmos (Thank you for your feedback), @ViewintoSpace, @EnteringintoSpace, @Lukomatico (the recent galaxy processing videos have been very helpful) – Lots of great on-line teachers/examples.
o   Incorporated Russell Croman’s amazing products (Blur, Noise, and Star Xterminators) with the updated Blur Xterminator AI version 4.