M39

Messier 39  (NGC 7092) is an open cluster in the constellation Cygnus.  It is only about 800 light years away from our solar system and  300 million year old.  It is group of about 30 stars may look like they are spread fairly far apart in the sky, but this group is only a 7 light years across.  All of its stars are main sequence and the very brightest of them are just about to evolve into the red giant star phase (source: Wikipedia, Universe Today).

I have now have 44 Messier objects down, only 66 to go! (Messier Objects with an ED80)

I recently purchased StarTools as an addition to my image processing. It seems to be easy to use although certain functions take time.  Also, I had to upgrade my ram to 8 MB from 4 MB as recommended by Ivo Jager (the  developer of StarTools).  I had some troubles doing certain functions such as AutoDev.  Ivo believes it is do to some sort of stretching in DSS even though I did not add any. In any case, I have used it at different points on this image. I like using it after processing with PS because the resolution is better.  It seems when I do it in StarTools first, the resolution goes down, however, this may be do to my limited processing knowledge.

Crop - processing with StarTools after PS

Crop - processing with StarTools first

 Widefield - processing with StarTools after PS

Widefield - processing with StarTools first

M39
Location: Happy Frog Observatory, Monroe, CT
Date/Time: 10/19/16 8:29 pm
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i(a), Backyard EOS
Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 600mm
f/7.5
Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G GoTo Telescope Mount
Filter: Astrodon UV/IR
Autoguiding: QHY-5L-II-M attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope with Helical Focuser
Exposure: 31 x 180 sec (93 min)
ISO: 800
Temp: 33 C
Post Processing: Deep Sky Stacker, StarTools, Photoshop, Lightroom