M35 in Gemini with NGC 2158, taken Oct 14, 2007 with 5-inch apo refractor at f/6 with Canon 20Da at ISO 800 for stack of 3 x 8 minute exposures. Some haze. Used PHDGuide and Meade DSI.
M35 and NGC2158 open clusters. Stack of two 8-minute exposures at f6 with 5-inch apo refractor (no field flattener) and Canon 20Da camera. ISO 400. In camera noise reduction and temp about 0° C. Taken January 4, 2006.
The Messier star cluster M35 at top right, along with nearby faint nebulas: IC 443, the arc of nebulosity left of centre, and NGC 2174 at bottom right, all set in a very colourful starfield. IC 443 in Gemini is also known as the Jellyfish Nebula, while NGC 2174 in Orion is aka the Monkeyhead Nebula. IC 443 is a supernova remnant, while NGC 2174 is a star forming region. The images for this stack were taken on a less-than-ideal night with high haze adding the natural glows to the stars, accentuating their colours. The two stars at left, Tejat Posterior (aka Mu Geminorum, left) and Propus (aka Eta Geminorum, centre), are both bright red giant stars. Other stars in the field are hot blue stars. This is a stack and blend of: 10 x 4-minute exposures through an Astronomik CLS clip-in filter blended with 8 x 8-minute exposures taken though a 12nm H-Alpha clip-in filter to add in the red nebulosity. All were through the SharpStar 61mm EDPHII apo refractor at f/4.5 and with the Canon EOS Ra camera at ISO 1600 for the CLS filtered images and at ISO 3200 for the H-Alpha filtered shots. Taken from home for a demo image, on a hazy night, March 29, 2022, with the MGEN III autoguider performing inter-frame dithering. It serves as a demo of blending in H-Alpha and also making use of a hazy night! Processing details: The H-Alpha shots were converted to monochrome and processed in Adobe Camera Raw, and blended into the colour image stack with a Lighten blend mode and with colorization added using the Debra Ceravolo method of applying a Hue&Saturation layer set to Colorize at 340 Red and a Lightness of ~50. Masking was applied so the H-alpha image shows through only where the nebulosity is, to prevent the overall sky colour turning red. No darks or flats were applied. All aligned, stacked and blended in Photoshop. Framing planned with SkySafari to include the stars at left and right of the frame.
