NGC 869 and 884 The Double Cluster in Perseus

 

Date: 10/21/2006

Location: Vallecito County Park, California
Conditions: 0% moon, seeing 8/10, transparency 7/10, temperature 65-45 F, very dry night.

 

Telescope: none

 

Mount: Losmandy G11, Gemini goto, polar scope used along with my first ever drift alignment done. I used a C8 with a 10mm reticule ep at 200 magnification taking about 1 hour getting close, but not perfect.

 

Camera: Canon 20D with 24 -70 mm Canon L series lens at 70mm all loaned to me by Jose Magsaysay. Mounted on the Losmandy G11 with a Losmandy 2 point camera attachment.

Focusing: Manual on star using Canon Lens and a portable Marshal high resolution 8" portable monitor.

Exposures: (2) 2 min JPEG 800 ISO, (1) 2 min JPEG 1600 ISO

Processing: IP- align-rotate, combine median, PS CS- , auto levels, auto contrast, auto color, curves, hue-saturation, cropped, mild unsharp mask, reduced size for web.

 

Comments: This is really a nice camera having many more features than mine. I especially like the built in noise frame subtraction, live display in the view finder, and the mirror lock features.

NGC 869 884 The Double Cluster in Perseus

Date: 7/24/2006

Location: Clearwater National Forest, Continental Divide, Idaho

Conditions: 0% moon, seeing 5/10, transparency 7/10, temperature 75-55 F, very humid and dewy night.

Telescope: Televue 85mm refractor, 600mm focal length, prime focus no diagonal.

Mount: Losmandy G11, Gemini goto, polar scope used to align,.

Camera: Canon Rebel 300d

Focusing: Manual on star using right angle Canon 2.5 magnifying view finder.

Exposures: (2) 2 min raw, 800 ISO

Processing: IP- convert raw to FITS, dark frame calibrate, align-rotate-scale, combine average,. digital development, convert to 16 bit TIFF, PS CS- , levels, color saturation, cropped, sharpen edges, unsharp mask, convert to JPEG.

Comments: Used grading before stacking putting the best image on top of stack which I think improved the photo.