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I agreeImaging telescope or lens:GSO 8" f/5 Newton
Imaging camera:Canon EOS 450Da
Mount:SkyWatcher NEQ6 Pro Goto
Guiding telescope or lens:Viewfinder 8x50
Guiding camera:Astrolumina Alccd5L-IIc
Focal reducer:TS Coma corrector 2"
Software:PHD2 Guiding, DSS, Fitswork, Gimp
Resolution: 4020x2680
Dates:Nov. 1, 2015
Frames: 70x120" ISO400
Integration: 2.3 hours
Flats: ~30
Bias: ~30
Avg. Moon age: 20.20 days
Avg. Moon phase: 70.18%
Temperature: 5.00
Astrometry.net job: 831582
RA center: 2h 42' 9"
DEC center: +42° 41' 52"
Pixel scale: 1.178 arcsec/pixel
Orientation: 165.240 degrees
Field radius: 0.790
Locations: Nürnberg, Nürnberg, Bayern, Germany
Open cluster M34
The picture also contains the little PN Abell 4.
Object description (wikipedia.org):
Messier 34 (also known as M 34 or NGC 1039) is an open cluster in the constellation Perseus. It was probably discovered by Giovanni Batista Hodierna before 1654 and included by Charles Messier in his catalog of comet-like objects in 1764. Messier described it as, "A cluster of small stars a little below the parallel of γ (Andromedae). In an ordinary telescope of 3 feet one can distinguish the stars."
Based on the distance modulus of 8.38, this cluster is located at a distance of about 470 parsecs, or 1,500 light years. For stars in the range from 0.12 to 1.0 solar masses, M34 contains an estimated 400 members. It spans about 35' on the sky which translates to a true radius of 7 light years. The cluster is just visible to the naked eye in very dark conditions, well away from city lights. It is possible to see it in binoculars when light pollution is limited.
The age of this cluster lies between the respective ages of the Pleiades open cluster at 100 million years and the Hyades open cluster at 800 million years. Comparisons between the observed stellar spectra and the values predicted by stellar evolutionary models gives an age estimate of 200–250 million years for M34. This is roughly the age at which stars with 0.5 solar masses enter the main sequence. By comparison, stars like the Sun enter the main sequence after 30 million years.
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