Well it is the the Double Cluster a.k.a. Caldwell 14, or h & chi Persei or NGC 884 & NGC 869. It is one of my favorite objects to observe with binoculars as well as any telescope, big or small and can be seen with the naked eye. Both clusters are about 7,500 light-years away and lie in the constellation of Perseus and are a few hundred light-years apart. In my image NGC 884 is on the left while NGC 869 shows up on the right. Most clusters are young (relatively) but these are young even for clusters at 12.8 million years old. Research shows there are more than 300 blue-white super-giant stars in each of these clusters and they are approaching us at approximately 39 km/s. There are also some red supergiant stars within the Double Cluster - five associated with NGC 884.
This version is much better than my previous version from over three years ago and I am very happy how it turned out. Imaging this was not really planned as it was a filler while waiting for different objects. I only have a 1.5 hr. window from my shed (from the front yard I have several hrs.) so I figured why not do an experiment and start to capture the exceedingly faint hydrogen associated with this region. I started in November and went into January capturing anytime there was a hint of clear weather. In the end I obtained a little over 15 hrs. of Ha, trashing about half as many - I was hoping for about 30 hrs. but that was not to be. Unfortunately the Hydrogen alpha was too faint for 15 hrs. using my F5.6 imaging system. I will revisit this when I have a faster system, perhaps hyperstar, and more time.
Dates: 12-6-20, 12-7-20, 12-8-20
Dates: 12-6-20, 12-7-20, 12-8-20
Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro Telescope: Astro-Tech AT115EDT 115mm Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 805mm
Focal Reducer: 0.8x AstroTech Field Flatterner/Focal Reducer
Mount: Orion Sirius
Filter Wheel: ZWO EFW 8 x 1.25"
Filter: ZWO R, G, B
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope/ZWO 60mm Guidescope
Exposure: R 56 x 90, G 62 x 90, B 56 x 90
Gain: 139
Offset 21
Temp: 0 C
Processing: APT, NINA, PixInsight, Photoshop, Topaz DeNoiseAI.
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