Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cassiopeia (Cas)  ·  Contains:  M 103  ·  NGC 581  ·  NGC 654  ·  NGC 659  ·  NGC 663  ·  The star 44Cas
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NGC 654, NGC 663, NGC 659, NGC 581, and M 103  in Cassiopeia, RonAdams
NGC 654, NGC 663, NGC 659, NGC 581, and M 103  in Cassiopeia
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NGC 654, NGC 663, NGC 659, NGC 581, and M 103 in Cassiopeia

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
NGC 654, NGC 663, NGC 659, NGC 581, and M 103  in Cassiopeia, RonAdams
NGC 654, NGC 663, NGC 659, NGC 581, and M 103  in Cassiopeia
Powered byPixInsight

NGC 654, NGC 663, NGC 659, NGC 581, and M 103 in Cassiopeia

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Description

Before I went outside I decided that I was going to find a cluster to image. I looked around the sky and then looked at my sky chart and I chose NGC 654. I've never imaged this cluster before.

The Moon was very bright and what I call brutal. No matter what exposure I chose the image was blown out. After taking several test images I chose an exposure that I thought would work. The bright Moonlight completely skewed the color way into the green. I did get an image and I'm

pleased with it although I wish the color had been better. I captured 5 clusters in my image which doesn't happen that often. An image of NGC 654 can be a very beautiful image and it's an object that you don't see imaged often. With the right gear and a long exposure an image will reveal a bright blue reflection nebula below NGC 654. It will also reveal LDN 1332/1334 the Seahorse Dark Nebula which resembles the Snake Nebula above NGC 654. However with a Full Moon up and restricted to a short exposure on a dslr camera there was no chance of capturing the reflection nebula or the dark seahorse nebula. Luckily this is also an object that produces a pleasing image even if you don't capture the nebulosity.

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  • NGC 654, NGC 663, NGC 659, NGC 581, and M 103  in Cassiopeia, RonAdams
    Original
  • Final
    NGC 654, NGC 663, NGC 659, NGC 581, and M 103  in Cassiopeia, RonAdams
    B

B

Description: As usual I liked the way my image looked on my desktop monitor but I don't like the way it looks on Astrobin. I did some reprocessing to try and get something I liked better.

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NGC 654, NGC 663, NGC 659, NGC 581, and M 103  in Cassiopeia, RonAdams