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M13 - jewels in a moonlit sky, Tom Gray

M13 - jewels in a moonlit sky

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M13 - jewels in a moonlit sky, Tom Gray

M13 - jewels in a moonlit sky

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Description

There is definitely a limit to what one can image, and find, under a bright moonlit sky. I’m all for seasonal veg, but couldn’t resist a bright target in the wee hours, more usually associated with a summer feast.

Two consecutive clear nights (or ‘moonlit days’) were a treat, and I spent time getting a good polar alignment (<0.1’ according to PHD) and fine tuning my portable setup. Despite this there is some elongation of stars, mainly, I think due to the poor seeing with FWHM >3” most of the time; reducing guiding to 3s helped to smooth this out.

This LRGB image, just shy of 2 hours, resolves this globular cluster quite well, using 60s exposures, which balanced the bright sky background, and shows hints of the outer stars. On advice of others I have left some sky glow in the background, which remains true to the conditions. Processed using defaults in Startools, I am happy with this, but have included a higher contrast image in revision B (mouse over).

Comments

Revisions

  • M13 - jewels in a moonlit sky, Tom Gray
    Original
  • M13 - jewels in a moonlit sky, Tom Gray
    B
  • Final
    M13 - jewels in a moonlit sky, Tom Gray
    C

B

Description: A version with more contrast, but some clipping of data, resulting in loss of detail outside the core.

Uploaded: ...

C

Description: Aligned, calibrated and stacked in ASTAP - this version comprises 104m integration of 60s subs. Gentle deconvolution and perhaps a more natural (less saturated) colour.

Uploaded: ...

Histogram

M13 - jewels in a moonlit sky, Tom Gray