The immensely rich galaxy cluster Abell 1656 in Coma Berenices with two giant elliptical galaxies NGC 4889 and NGC 4874 at its heart. Both are about 11th magnitude. The face-on spiral galaxy NGC 4921 is at lower left at 12th magnitude; the tilted spiral NGC 4839 is at lower right, also 12th magnitude. The field is peppered with dozens of fainter galaxies from the NGC and PGC catalogues, all around 13th to 15th magnitude. The two bright blue stars are 7th magnitude. I shot this on a less than ideal night, with haze moving in, so this is a stack of only 6 x 8-minute exposures at ISO 1600 with the Canon EOS Ra through the Astro-Physics 130mm EDT refractor at f/6 with the 6x7 field flattener. Shot May 5, 2021. Haze prevented more images to smooth the noise more. Autoguided with the MGEN3 stand-alone autoguider.
The Coma Berenices star cluster, aka Melotte 111, at right, with two prominent galaxies at left: NGC 4559 at top left and edge-on NGC 4565 at bottom left. This is a stack of 6 x 8 minute exposures with the SharpStar 76mm apo refractor with the EDPH field flattener for f/4.5 and with the Canon EOS Ra at ISO 800. Diffraction spikes added for effect using Astronomy Tools actions.
The Coma Berenices star cluster, aka Mel 111, with star glows added from haze in the sky to accentuate the star colours. The edge-on galaxy NGC 4565 (the Needle Galaxy) is at lower left; the spiral galaxy NGC 4559 is at upper left. Several other smaller NGC galaxies are in the field, which is similar to the field of view of binoculars. This is a stack of 7 x 4-minute exposures in a clear sky blended with 2 x 4-minutes with the haze moved in, all with the Sharpstar 61mm EDPHII refractor at f/4.5 and Canon EOS Ra camera at ISO 1600 (with no filters used). Taken April 1, 2022 from home.
