Galaxies in the Beehive Cluster - M44
Uploaded 3/13/16

This has always been a great test object for me, a bright scattered open cluster with galaxies hiding amongst the stars. The cluster is huge, and only the center is recorded here in this 1 degree wide field with the 10 inch.

Three versions of the same data are presented. The first is a conventional process which shows nice stars and colors and is not stretched out too much.

The second image has had a steep non linear curve applied to bring up the faintest stars and faint 16th magnitude and fainter galaxies.

Finally, a negative image with some annotations to identify the brightest galaxies.

Select an image size for a larger view: 1290 x 960
Select an image size for a larger view: 1290 x 960
Select an image size for a larger view: 1290 x 960
Instrument: 10" f/3.9 Orion Astrograph Newtonian with Baader MPCC Mount: Astrophysics 1200 QMD CCD Camera: SBIG 10XME NABG with Enhanced Water Cooling Guider: Meade DSI Pro w/80mm piggyback refractor Exposure: RGB: 10:10:10m AstroDon RGB Combine Ratio: 1: 1.05: 1.2 Location: Payson, Arizona, Elevation: 5150 ft. Sky: Seeing FWHM = 2 arcsec , Transparency 7/10 Outside Temperature: 35 F CCD Temperature: -20 C Image Processing Tools: Maxim DL6: Calibration, deblooming (Starizona Debloomer), aligning, stacking PixInsight: Curves, Deconvolution Photoshop CS2: Curves, Color Correction, Gradient removal (Grad Xterminator), Cleanup HOME GALAXIES EMISSION NEBS REFLECTION NEBS COMETS GLOBULARS OPEN CLUST PLANETARIES LINKS