Heart of Gold | Melotte 15

[garrick]

Centred in the image is the star cluster Melotte 15*. The image was a challenge to compose and a lot of time was spent trying to adjust the compositional balance. The image has been cropped.  I have moved away from the common SHO colour scheme and have tried to get a more natural look. As with all narrow band imaging the word natural is extremely subjective.

Heart of Gold | Melotte 15 by MessierX, on Flickr

Technical
Dates:Oct. 22, 2021

Imaging telescopes or lenses: William Optics GT71 II APO

Imaging cameras: ZWO ASI 294MM Pro (cooled) ASI294MM PRO

Mounts: Skywatcher HEQ5 PRO (belt modification)

Guiding telescopes or lenses: William Optics 50/200 GuideScope

Guiding cameras: ZWO ASI120MM-S ASI 120MM-S

Focal reducers: William Optics Adjustable Flat6A III 0.8x Reducer / Flattener

Software: Asi Air for IOS  ·  PixInsight 1.8.7 Ripley PixInsight

Filters: Baader Ha, OIII, SII 1.25 inch

Accessory: ZWO ASI Air  ·  Pegasus Astro Pocket Powerbox

Frames:Baader Ha, OIII, SII 1.25 inch: 247x180" (12h 21') (gain: 120.00) -10C bin 2x2

Integration: 12h 21'

Darks: 41

Flats: 41

Flat darks: 41

Avg. Moon age: 16.47 days

Avg. Moon phase: 96.74%

Bortle Dark-Sky Scale: 8.00

Temperature: 16.00

RA center: 02h33m03s.469

DEC center: +61°24′40″.45

Pixel scale: 1.422 arcsec/pixel

Orientation: -151.410 degrees

Field radius: 1.097 degrees

Clear Skies

G

[JohnH]

Gorgeous. I really like the way it appears 3d.

Regards,

John

[garrick]

Thanks John. Any 3D effect is purely accidental

G

[Carole]

That's very nice Garrick, I like the colour and the detail in Melotte 15 is very very nice, you should consider doing a crop of this area as a separate image for a close up view.

Carole

[Roberto]

Excellent shot showing this object in all its glory    Very nice processing 👍  Sharp details across magnifications.

Roberto

[ApophisAstros]

Nice and detailed,
Roger