The area of sky around the star cluster Messier 35, at top in Gemini, with the supernova remnant IC 443 below, and the Monkeyhead Nebula, IC 2174, in Orion at bottom. This is with the 200mm Canon lens to frame a binocular field of view, and taken with the standard Canon 6D MkII camera at ISO 800, for a stack of 16 x 2-minute exposures and through the NISI Natural Night filter to help bring out the nebulas. On the iOptron Sky Guider Pro. Taken from home Feb 19, 2020. The stock camera did a pretty good job recording the red nebulas but not as good as the filter-modified Canon 5D MkII did on shots taken the next night for comparison.
Open cluster M35 in Gemini and nearby nebulosity IC 443 (Jellyfish Nebula) bottom left of cluster and NGC 2174 below cluster. This is a stack of 5 x 4 minute exposurs with Canon 5D MkII at ISO 800 and Canon 135mm lens at f/2.8. Taken January 6, 2011. Field of view simulates binocular field.
A framing of some of the star clusters and nebulas in western Gemini and northern Orion, taken on a partly hazy night adding the star glows to accentutate their colours. At bottom is the nebula NGC 2174, the Monkey Head Nebula, over the border in Orion. At centre near the orange star Propus is the supernova remnant IC 443 in Gemini. The fainter diffuse nebula IC 444 is at left near the star Mu Geminorum, aka Tejat Posterior. The area around IC 444 contains the large star cluster Collinder 89. At top right is the large star cluster Messier 35 with its smaller companion cluster NGC 2158. The field is filled with bright but cool orange giants stars and hot blue stars. This is a stack of 9 x 5-minute exposures taken with the sky relatively free of clouds, blended with a stack of 6 x 5-minute exposures when the sky was hazy (but not too hazy!), to add the star glows. All with the SharpStar 61mm EDPH refractor with its flattener/reducer at f/4.5, and filter-modified (by AstroGear.net) Canon R camera at ISO 800. Autoguided and controlled with the ASIAir Mini, and on the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer GTi small equatorial mount, taken as part of testing this combination of gear. The polar alignment was off slightly but at this scale didn't hurt each sub-frame much. But the field rotated slighly from frame to frame. Each frame was dithered (shifted a few pixels) by the ASIAir to eliminate thermal noise pixels when stacking the images. Taken from home March 15, 2023. Nebulosity brought out with luminosity masks created with Lumenzia, plus with a starless layer created with Star XTerminator, and with a layer created with the Nebula Filter action with PhotoKemi Actions. All stacking and blending in Photoshop.
