Pleiades (M45)
10th and 12th September 2010

Equipment Used and other info
Camera: modified Canon 5D Mark II
3x15 min sub exposures at 800ISO with flat and dark frames.
Scope: TMB130SS F7 Refractor using WO/TMB 2.7" Field Flattener.
Auto-guided with Orion Auto Guider on Stellarvue 10x60
Mount: Mountain Instruments MI-250 (pier mounted)
Image Acquired using Nebulosity II, stacked with Deep Sky
Stacker and processed with Photoshop CS3.






Shot from my back yard observatory in Fremont Michigan on the 12th September using the Canon 5D Mark II
with TMB 130SS mounted on MI-250 GEM. Consisting of 3 x 15 min exposures at 800ISO. In astronomy, the Pleiades,
or Seven Sisters (Messier object 45), is 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. Pleiades has several meanings in different cultures and traditions.The cluster is dominated by hot blue and
extremely luminous stars that have formed within the last 100 million years. Dust that forms a faint reflection nebulosity
around the brightest stars was thought at first to be left over from the formation of the cluster (hence the alternate name Maia
Nebula after the star Maia), but is now known to be an unrelated dust cloud in the interstellar medium that the stars are currently
passing through. 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 neighborhood.

M13
7th March 2010

Equipment Used and other info
Canon XSi Modded 400 ISO
15 subs x 900 seconds, with 3 darks and 100 flat
TMB 130SS F7 Refractor with AT 2" Field Flattener
Auto guided with Orion Auto Guider on TMB 80SS
CGE PRO Mount, Image Acquired and Stacked with Nebulosity II
and re processed with Photoshop CS3, using the tools
GradientXterminator and Astra Image (wavelet sharpen)


As I wait for my new camera to arrive and we finally got some clear skies. I decided to shoot one
of my favorites using the Canon XSi DSLR, I'm not totally happy with the image but its my best shot
of M13 to date. There are quite a number of small galaxies visible in this shoot, the largest being NGC
6207 and IC 4617 which lies halfway between NGC 6207 and M13. I am so not used to having to shoot
dark frames, by the time I set up to shoot dark frames the sun was almost up, consequently this image
has only 3 darks. Since then the temp has soared to 50F and I doubt if I will be able to shoot darks for this
until next year. (not that I will really miss the cold).