M29, an open clusterHome

M29 is a very open cluster which is situated in a fairly dense part of the Milky Way so, apart from the seven bright stars, most of the stars here are probably background stars.  Its distance is quite uncertain with estimates varying from 4,000 to 7,200 light-years.  The reason for this uncertainty is that there is evidence for dark material between it and us and it is uncertain how much this dims the light.  It is estimated as 10 million years old.  It was first described by Messier on 26th July 1764.


This is an RGB image made by combining pictures taken through red, green, and blue filters.  It is prettier than any of the monochrome pictures but I am not convinced the colours are as real as they appear.

Date and Time: 7th July 2007 23:17 UT.
Camera: Atik ATK1 HS.
Telescope: LX200 with 0.33 focal reducer and Astronomik RGB filters.
Capture: K3CCDTools. High gamma, exposure 5 sec, 91% gain, 60 frames each colour.
Processing: K3CCDTools. 42-60 frames stacked, histogram 0-180, unsharp mask 3,0,200.
Combined in Photoshop.

This is a monochrome image made using my MX716 camera.  The scale is somewhat smaller because of the sensor in this camera has larger pixels than the ATK1.

Date and Time: 1st November 2011 18:58 to 19:04 UT.
Camera: Starlight Xpress MX 716.
Telescope: LX200 with 0.33 focal reducer and Astronomik CLS filter.
Capture: star_mx7. Exposure 1, 5, 10 secs, 10 frames for each exposure.
Processing: star_mx7, dark subtraction, and initial enhancement factor 25 on each frame.
RegiStax6.  Each set stacked separately and then combined into the final image.
 			Home    Back to DSOs