The main field of galaxies in the Coma-Virgo Galaxy Cluster, centred on the Markarian’s Chain line of galaxies, including bright ellipticals Messier 84, 86 and 87. At upper right is the star 6 Comae flanked by the spirals M98, M99 and M100. At lower left is the group of M58, M59 and M60, with M89 and M90 above them at left of centre. M88 and M91 are above those at upper left. Numerous NGC galaxies populate the field. The collection contains a variety of galaxy types: giant elliptical as well as spirals, both edge-on and face-on. This is a stack of 14 x 3-minute exposures, with the William Optics RedCat 51mm astrograph at f/5, and with the Canon EOS Ra at ISO 1250, on the Astro-Physics Mach1 mount, tracking but not guided. The field is 8° x 5°. Taken May 13, 2020 from home on a very clear moonless night. Despite the scope being out for a while before I started shooting, its focus shifted slightly during the hour of exposures as the night cooled, making the last exposures a little soft. All stacked and median combined in Photoshop CC as there were satellite trails in many frames.
The constellation of Coma Berenices with the large open cluster Mel 111 at top right. Numerous galaxies show up even at this wide scale and even the globular cluster M53 as the fuzzy star at lower left. This is a stack of 5 x 2-minute exposures with the Rokinon 85mm lens at f/2.8 and Canon 6D MkII at ISO 1600, blended with a single image taken through the Kenko Softon A filter to add the star glows. All with the iOptron SkyGuider Pro tracker. Taken May 24, 2020 between the clouds!
The Coma Berenices star cluster, aka Mel 111, with a smattering of galaxies, taken under dark skies on a spring evening. The edge-on galaxy NGC 4565 is at left. I shot this as a test of the William Optics RedCat 51mm f/5 astrographic refractor (which provides a focal lengthof 250mm). This was on the iOptron SkyGuider Pro tracker, a popular portable mount to use with the RedCat. I used it unguided for a set of 2-minute exposures. Of the 20 exposures, 12 were relatively untrailed and so were selected for stacking for this image. This is a stack of 12 x 2-minutes at ISO 1250 with the Canon EOS Ra. Stacked and blended in Photoshop CC. The little RedCat astrograph is very sharp to the corners. The field is about 8° by 5.5°.
