THE STORY.  After two weeks of snow and rain, we  finally had a break in the weather here in central Pennsylvania  ...  naturally, however, it was during a full moon.    I was tired of shooting images of nebulas using narrowband filters and thought I would try my hand at star clusters.     The skies were barely dark (6:30 pm Eastern Daylight Saving time) when  I pointed the scope at this famous double open star cluster in the constellation Perseus.  I starting snapping 3-minute exposures.  Only 24 were useable, with most of them ruined by planes and satellite trails.   In the end, this what I came up with.   

STAR CLUSTERS.  Star clusters are indeed really cool targets and most of my astronomy books are filled with them.    In the rather dark skies here in rural central Pennsylvania, I can actually pick out these two star clusters with my naked eye - but only as faint smudges.  But it is when viewed through pair of really good binoculars that you notice their beauty - groupings of hundreds, even thousands of stars in the vastness of space.   This target looks absolutely amazing when viewed through Televue Nagler and Ethos eyepieces on my vintage Meade StarFinder 12.5" dobsonian  telescope (on a clear, windless night).  You can't help but ponder the sheer number of stars and their distance from earth and from each other.   It boggles the mind.   

But then I saw COLORimages of these two star clusters posted here on Astrobin ... I was completely blown away.    Seeing all the shades of yellow, white, and blue, you can't help but think about their age, the evolution and life of a star, and their elemental composition.  Seeing star clusters in  color changes everything for me.   After see many fabulous images of this target here on Astrobin,  I decided to use this damp, moon-lit night in early January as my chance to see if I could capture something decent on my own.

Admittedly, this image pales in comparison with the superb quality of many of the other images of this Perseus Double Cluster posted here on Astrobin.    At 180s @ 120gain on the ASI294MC, many of the brighter stars were saturated.   I guess that in the future,  taking shorter 30-second exposures that could be HDR combined with the longer 180s or 240s exposures would help.  I think I will try that.   Nevertheless, here is my first attempt at an open star cluster and it gives you a sense of what NGC869 and NGC 884 look like through an f/4.9 250mm scope (the RedCat51).

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OTHER TIDBITS.  Each of the clusters contains more than 300 blue/white super-giant stars.   They  were first cataloged around 130 BC when the Greek astronomer Hipparchos mentioned it as a “nebula” or “cloudy spot” in his writings. But it was not until the invention of the telescope in the early 17th century, that the true nature of the Double Cluster in Perseus was realized.   The Messier Catalog does not include the Double Cluster, but it is listed in the Caldwell catalog as #14 and the NGC catalog as #869 and #884.   Astronomer William Herschel was the first one to recognize that this “cloudy spot” in the night sky consisted of two separate clusters of stars.