Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cassiopeia (Cas)  ·  Contains:  NGC 457  ·  The star φCas
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E.T. Cluster, NGC 457, rflinn68
E.T. Cluster, NGC 457
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E.T. Cluster, NGC 457

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
E.T. Cluster, NGC 457, rflinn68
E.T. Cluster, NGC 457
Powered byPixInsight

E.T. Cluster, NGC 457

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Description

While not really a First Light from my new 10" carbon truss RC, it is my first completed image. With the forecast showing thunderstorms for the next 10 days, I wanted something relatively easy to assemble, process, and post. Clusters arent necessarily the easiest to do, or at least do well, but it was something I could shoot with a bright moon in the sky, start at 1am and finish before sunrise.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, and zooming in at 200-300% shows quite a few tight double and triple star systems.

This thing has more names than Whitey Bulger. While officially designated as NGC 457, Caldwell 13, Melotte 7, Lund 43, and others, it is also known as the E.T. Cluster, Owl Cluster, Dragonfly Cluster, Kachina Doll Cluster, and the Skiing Cluster.

It is located about 7900 light years from the Sun in the constellation Cassiopeia. Apparent magnitude is 6.4 and apparent size is 13.0'.

This was shot unbinned (1X1) at 2000mm and f/8 using the STF-8300M for an image scale of 0.558"/pixel.

I have a few other projects started, but am needing OIII on them all. Right on schedule, the skies clouded up as soon as the moon started becoming less of a factor.

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  • E.T. Cluster, NGC 457, rflinn68
    Original
  • Final
    E.T. Cluster, NGC 457, rflinn68
    B

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E.T. Cluster, NGC 457, rflinn68