M35 and NGC2158

Open Clusters in Gemini

Uploaded 3/25/06

Select an image size for a larger view: 800 x 600 1200 x 800 1600 X 1200

 Embedded in the rich Winter Milky Way, this grouping of open star clusters offers many colorful stars, and a wide range in cluster richness. Dominating this field is M35 in the center, a 5.1 magnitude rich open cluster, spanning the width of the full moon. Just below it and to the left is another even richer star cluster, NGC2158. Much smaller because it is a background object, this 8.6 magnitude splendor spans 5 arcminutes and is dominated by yellow supergiants. Notice also a very peculiar aspect of this cluster - the lower half seems to have many more orange stars than the top half.

Near the bottom edge in the center are two smaller sparse clusters, IC2156 and 57. Only a two very faint galaxies appear in this part of the sky, too dim to record in this image.

Processing:

Raw conversion in RS premium at 3100 degrees color temperature. Standard brightness, hue and contrast adjustments in Photoshop CS2. Absolutely NO sharpening of any kind was employed on this image. Finally, a special technique was employed to spectrally correct the lack of red response in this 10D image to bring it to a much more representative color response.

Instrument: Stellarvue SV80S Refractor w/.8x TR2008 Field Flattener, EFR = 80mm f/4.74 @ 379mm FL Platform: Astrophysics AP1200 Camera: Canon 10D @ ISO800 Exposure: 10m Filters: Standard IR Block Location: Payson, Arizona Elevation: 5150 ft. Sky: Seeing 7/10, Transparency 8/10 Outside Temperature: 35F Processing Tools: Photoshop CS, PixInsight, Raw Shooter Premium HOME GALAXIES EMISSION NEBS REFLECTION NEBS COMETS GLOBULARS OPEN CLUST PLANETARIES LINKS FastCounter by bCentral