A portrait of the W-shaped constellation of Cassiopeia, with her various star clusters and emission nebulas, and with the area laced with dark nebula. . For nebulas — At upper left is IC 1805 and IC 1848, the Heart and Soul Nebulas. At upper right is NGC 7822 and Ced 214. At bottom is NGC 281 the Pacman Nebula. Just below centre is the faint IC 59 and IC 63 reflection nebulas near the star Gamma Cassiopeiae. For star clusters — at far left is the Double Cluster NGC 869 and NGC 884. Left of centre is NGC 663. Below centre is NGC 457. At bottom right on the edge of the frame is NGC 7789. I should have framed the scene a bit farther to the south! This is a stack of 11 x 6-minute tracked but unguided exposures at f/2.8 with the Rokinon 85mm lens and Canon EOS Ra at ISO 1600, blended with a single simular exposure through a Kenko Softon A filter to add the star glows. All were also shot through an Astronomik CLS clip-in filter, to reduce sky glow and enhance the nebulas. Taken December 4, 2020 from home on the AP Mach 1 mount.
A framing of some of the main open star clusters in eastern Cassiopeia, including: NGC 663 at lower left and NGC 457 at upper right. NGC 457 is known as the Owl or ET Cluster. Above NGC 457 is smaller NGC 436 and above NGC 663 is smaller NGC 654. To the right of NGC 663 is NGC 659. Between NGC 663 and the bright blue star Ruchbah is Messier 103. The yellowed cluster in the extreme lower left corner is Be 6. This is a stack of 20 x 5-minute exposures with the SharpStar 76mm EDPH with its f/4.5 reducer/flattener, and the Canon R5 at ISO 800, on the Star Adventurer GTi mount, autoguided with the Lacerta MGEN3. No filters were employed.
