Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Taurus (Tau)  ·  Contains:  16 Tau  ·  17 Tau  ·  18 Tau  ·  19 Tau)  ·  19 q Tau  ·  20 Tau  ·  21 Tau  ·  22 Tau  ·  23 Tau  ·  24 Tau  ·  25 Tau)  ·  25 eta Tau  ·  26 Tau  ·  27 Tau  ·  28 Tau  ·  Alcyone  ·  Asterope  ·  Atlas  ·  Barnard's Merope Nebula  ·  Celaeno  ·  Electra  ·  HD23156  ·  HD23157  ·  HD23158  ·  HD23171  ·  HD23246  ·  HD23247  ·  HD23289  ·  HD23325  ·  HD23326  ·  And 100 more.
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The Pleiades (M45), estabrook
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The Pleiades (M45)

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
The Pleiades (M45), estabrook
Powered byPixInsight

The Pleiades (M45)

Equipment

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Acquisition details

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Description

When I was young, I would lie down in the middle of the street beside my father, taking turns looking at the Pleiades (M45) through what seemed like impossibly heavy binoculars.  Inspired by a beautiful image on the cover of a 1982 Astronomy magazine, he and I searched for hints of nebulosity surrounding the Seven Sisters' heavenly blue glow. 

Capturing that nebulosity has been a goal of mine since I took up astrophotography two years ago.  I patiently waited for a clear, moonless fall night, when the Pleiades hung high enough above my Bortle 8 light dome to justify broadband imaging--and I finally got it.

I collected about 5.5 hours of data that night, and I couldn't wait to plug it into Astropixelprocessor the moment I woke up the next morning.  The freshly-stacked image was beautiful from the start and required very little post-processing in PixInsight.  Another lifelong astronomical ambition fulfilled!  

(Captured: C6, AM5, Hyperstar, ASI183MC Pro, Optolong L-Pro filter. Processed: AstroPixelProcessor, PixInsight, StarXterminator, NoiseXterminator)

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