Messier 38 (M38) also known as NGC 1912 or Starfish Cluster is an open cluster located approximately 3800 light-years away in the constellation Auriga. The cluster contains some 100 stars, mainly bright blue stars but some orange-yellow giants as well. It is estimated to be 220 million years old and is about 25 LY across. Just to the lower left of M38 is a smaller star cluster around 5000 LY away, NGC 1907, which by coincidence seems to be passing by M38.
The really cool thing that makes this Double Cluster doppelganger is all of the hydrogen gas (Ha) in the region which I wanted to highlight. Most of the hydrogen is very faint and requires lots of exposure except the dense region on the lower portion of my image. I really like how the structure of the Ha gas came out, especially since my original image of this from several years ago only showed it as an undefined red blob. Another added bonus is the suspected Planetary Nebula, PK 172+00.1. It is the small bright red donut shaped object located in the upper right portion of M38.
Processing went pretty well with all the tools we have available but one thing I might have done differently was to capture more RGB data and not capture the luminosity since I wanted to showcase the nebulosity in addition to the cluster. I did use the Luminosity since I did capture it and it reduced the background noise but at a reduced blending mode in PI.
Dates: 12-20-23, 12-21, 1-1-24, 1-2, 1-4, 1-5
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