Pleiades-2019 (ED80)

Pleiades or M45 is probably the third most imaged object after Orion and Andromeda and happens to be my favorite open cluster.  It contains over 500 stars and is 400 light-years away.  At least seven of the very brightest stars are visible with the naked eye and is nicknamed the "Seven Sisters".  In Japanese it is known as the Subaru hence the logo of the car company.  Although it appears the bluish reflection nebula is part of the cluster, studies show that it is unrelated to the cluster it just happens to be passing through the molecular cloud.

The view is upside down from most other images I have seen as the Merope Nebula on the top and the stars Maia, Electra, and Alcyone on bottom, left, and in the center respectively. Like most of the stars that make up Pleiades, these are young, blue, hot, and luminous.  This image and the one I took just last year with the DSLR (https://www.astrobin.com/323691/D/?nc=collection&nce=705) show the nebula with the elongated spikes coming together in the center.  If you compare the images I believe I captured more nebulosity last year which is not that surprising since it was a longer exposure.  However, I like how the background turned out on this version and it was much easier to process as I had much less defects.  The large stars did not have nearly the same halos that last years image had.  Lastly, I was going to crop it but I like the wide field including the orange/red star HIP 17759 on the bottom of the image.  There was nothing noteworthy about it other than it is 541-light years away, I thought it looked good in contrast to the blue tinted Pleiades.

So why did I not shoot for longer exposure? I was not planning to image this at all this at all as I thought I would have my new telescope by now and would be imaging different objects.  Astronomics said that it is off the boat and on the road now so it should not be too much longer (days).  The weather has been crazy as of late and did want to get caught up in an object that I will need a month to image so I knew I could get a decent image of this even with only a few hours.  Most people would be surprised to see my small FOV so I have to be strategic in my imaging (very small windows). As it turns out I also have three hours on the Horsehead Nebula which is bare minimum but there is supposed to be a couple of clear nights coming up and the telescope is not here yet so I will try for some more data on that.  Anyways, enjoy what is likely my last Pleiades image using the ED80.

M45 - Pleiades
Location: Home Monroe, CT
Date: 1-3-19, 1-5-19, 1-6-19
Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro
Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 600mm
f/7.5
Focal Reducer: Orion 0.8x Focal Reducer for Refractor Telescopes
Mount: Orion Atlas Pro
Filter Wheel: ZWO EFW 8x 1.25"
Filter: ZWO R, G, B, L
Autoguiding: QHY-5L-II-M attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope with Helical Focuser
Exposure: R 22 x 90, G 21 x 90, B 22 x 90, L 52 x 90 (2.9 hrs total)
Gain: 139
Offset 21
Temp: 0 C
Post Processing: PixInsight and Photoshop
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