The area of the Rosette Nebula (bottom) and Christmas Tree Cluster (top) in Monoceros with the Fornax Lightrack tracker and 200mm lens + Canon 5D MkII. The nebulosity at top includes the Cone Nebula. Slightly trailed in this stack of 10 x 3 minute exposures at ISO 800, due to poor polar alignment due to polar scope not being orthogonal to the polar axis. Trailed in RA and Dec so not trailed just because of drive errors. Useful as a demo image and as a small illustration.
The region in Serpens and Ophiuchus containing the Serpens-Ophiuchus (S-O) Double Cluster, here at top left, and the large binocular cluster IC 4655 above the cyan-tinted star Cebalrai, here at right. The S-O pair is made of IC 4756 (left) and NGC 6633 (right). Included near centre is the V-shaped asterism known as Taurus Poniatowski or the “Little Bull,” a group that resembles the Hyades in Taurus. The group was named for the King of Poland, Stanislaus Poniatowski in 1777 by Marcin Poczobutt. The constellation pattern was never accepted but the asterism, now in Ophiuchus, is a fine one for binoculars. This is a stack of 3 x 3-minute exposures with the 85mm Rokinon lens at f/2.8 and Canon 6D at ISO 800, plus an additional 3 min exposure through the Kenko Softon filter to add the star glows. Taken from home July 29, 2019. All tracked on the MSM SiFo Tracker from China as part of testing. At this focal length the little MSM tracker proved problematic as many frames were trailed. It was not reliable enough in its tracking to yield pinpoint stars in most shots.
The two large open star clusters straddling the Serpens-Ophiuchus border and thus called the S-O Double Cluster. They are IC 4756 at left, a very large and scattered group, and NGC 6633 at right, a more concentrated group. Both are best seen with binoculars, and the field of the 200mm telephoto lens used here simulates a binocular field of view. This is a stack of 6 x 2-minute exposures with the 200mm lens at f/2.8 and Canon 6D MkII at ISO 800.
