This is a portrait of Cassiopeia the Queen that takes in the red emission nebulas in the constellation as well as recording some of the larger star clusters. The area is also laced with dark lanes of dust. At lower left are the Heart and Soul Nebulas IC 1848 and IC 1805; at upper right of centre are the nebulas NGC 7822 and Ced214; at lower right is the Pacman Nebula NGC 281; while in the upper right corner are the nebulas around the star cluster M52. The star cluster NGC 7789 is prominent to the right of Caph, the righthand star of the W. The star clusters NGC 663 and NGC 457 are visible near the star Ruchbah, the second star of the W. At lower left is the bright Double Cluster in Perseus. At upper left is the large and loose cluster Collinder 463. This is a stack of 25 x 2-minute exposures with the Canon RF28-70mm lens at 59mm and f/2.8, on the red-sensitive Canon Ra at ISO 1600, all on the Star Adventurer Mini tracker. The lens was also equipped with an URTH light pollution reduction filter. The sky was slightly hazy this night from incoming smoke, and an aurora to the north was adding sky glow. However, the glows around the bright stars are from an exposure taken at the end of the sequence through a Kase/Alyn Wallace StarGlow filter. An application of a Pro Contrast filter from the Color EFX plug-in from the Nik Collection 5 helped snap up contrast. An application of RCAstro's Gradient Xterminator filter plug-in helped eliminate the worst of the sky gradients.
Cassiopeia (centre), Cepheus (right of centre), and the Andromeda Galaxy (at bottom) in a vertical segment from an attempted panorama along the Milky Way, from New Mexico, December 6, 2013. Perseus and the Double Cluster are at left. This is a stack of 4 x 3 minute exposures with the 35mm lens at f/4 and Canon 5D MkII at ISO 1600, plus a single shot through the Kenko Softon diffusion filter for the star glows.
A telephoto lens shot of the cluster and nebula region of the Cassiopeia-Perseus border, with the Double Cluster at lower right, and the Heart and Soul Nebulas at centre. They are also known as IC 1805 andf IC 1848 respectively. The bright patch off the top right of IC 1805 is NGC 896. Cluster NGC 663 is at top right edge in Cassiopeia. This is a stack of 5 x 6 minute exposures at ISO 800 with the Canon 5D MkII and 135mm lens at f/2.8. Taken from home.
