Although having an Observatory, I don't like to mess what is working perfectly but I really enjoy testing equipment and often there are targets in the zone at the same time as other interesting targets.

About a year ago I purchased as a spare mount for travelling an iOptron 40EC as I was already using and impressed with the 120EC in my dome.

Finally I was tempted by some of the images I had seen with OSC and the speed of obtaining quality data, so I bought an Altair Astro 26c as I had never used a CMOS before and wanted to play.

Wow is all I can say, after setting up my focus points, calibrating and sorting out the guiding I only managed 13 x 240s there was no moon, so it was for my bortle 5/6 skies ideal conditions.

I did try to grab another 37 subs but with a much larger presence from the moon, the data was nowhere near as good, so for 52mins of data, I'm calling it this year.

Probably my shortest capture for a few years now, but I have to say I am utterly impressed with the Altair 26c, can't wait to try out in the future their mono version.

Here's the bumf as usual: -

The Pleiades (/ˈplaɪ.ədiːz, ˈpliːə-/), also known as the Seven Sisters and Messier 45, are an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars located in the constellation of Taurus. It is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky.

The cluster is dominated by hot blue and luminous stars that have formed within the last 100 million years. Reflection nebulae around the brightest stars were once thought to be left over material from the formation of the cluster, but are now considered likely to be an unrelated dust cloud in the interstellar medium through which the stars are currently passing.

Computer simulations have shown that the Pleiades were probably formed from a compact configuration that resembled the Orion Nebula. Astronomers estimate that the cluster will survive for about another 250 million years, after which it will disperse due to gravitational interactions with its galactic neighbourhood.