Taken on the 9th of November 09 on a cloudless night at 6pm. I didn't have much time before the forecasted clouds came over (do I believe the forecasters?). Fog was already rolling in across the road as I entered the village. I used the 80ED with the WO AFR4 as I'd just taken a series of SAO68943 Chi Cygnii for John Cox to follow. and use the same kit for that.
The sky remained clear throughout. I'd modified the balance system on the big Meade and that seems to have eased the guiding problems I'd been having.
I used 20x120sec subs to try to retain colour of the stars. AstroArt4 was used to acquire and preprocess the frames and only flats were used to calibrate. I usually get a very blue result if I use bias frames with flats, must be doing something wrong there. Processing finished off in Photoshop CS2 with Noel's Actions to help smooth the background. No sharpening done and the whole cropped only to cut out the stacking edges.
The cluster is a bit straggly but all its stars are a pleasing blue. If you look towards the top left, you should be able to pick out the small redish planetary nebula PLN 93- 2.1.
Brian
The meeting on Thursday 26 November will be at Austerfield to look at the New Sirius 3.5m Dome which is now fully operational. The dome has electrically driven shutters as well as the dome itself which electronically tracks the direction of the telescope. This is the "School" model and is designed for a tutor and eight adults in comfort.
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