20211105 - M45 TAU - The Pleiades - Watching seven sisters bathing in a haze …
What’s in the picture(s)
M45 - The Pleiades -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PleiadesQuote: “The Pleiades also known as The Seven Sisters and Messier 45, is an
open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot
B-type stars in the north-west of the constellation
Taurus. It is among the
star clusters nearest to Earth, it is the nearest
Messier object to Earth, and is the cluster most obvious to the
naked eye in the
night sky”
What was the experience
After 4 weeks of clouds, there was just one night of clear skies. Determined to make the most of it, M45 was top on my long wish-list, in spite of a slight haze in the sky. After a long wait until it got high enough in the sky, the plan was to shoot this as ‘clear’ as possible, given the light pollution. I started off with 120s subs and then just a couple of 180s subs with the L-Pro.
I’ve processed this like I mostly do, standard OSC workflow using the EZ-suite …. But … somehow, something feels “off”. I’ve got detail in the reflection nebulae around the stars, but I’m unsure about the surrounding haze … Is it a natural part of the DSO, or is it a defect in the imaging (the sky was partially hazy) or the processing (would this be a leftover gradient)
Although the intent is to capture additional data during the next clear skies, I am releasing this image to the ‘public’, hoping someone can tell me what’s wrong with it, or how it can be improved.
How it was done
Scope: TS-94 APO (FL 414mm)
Mount: EQ6-R Pro
Camera: ASI2600MC Pro
Photons: 120s 40x 180s 10x
Processing: PixInsight (Mac)
What have I learned from this
The most obvious of DSO objects, seems the hardest to get right. I’ve seen images of others where the sisters are bathing in the surrounding haze. Is the shortage of data playing tricks with my eyes here, or is this “off” processing?
Clear Skies everybody! 🤩✨🔭
Follow me @astrowaut
Astrobin:
https://www.astrobin.com/users/WCA65/
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