20.10.11

A larger Pacman

With the moon now rising much later a return to deep sky was possible again. I noticed that my previous attempt at NGC 281 (The Pacman Nebula) had been with the apo so I thought I would try the Newtonian on it for a more detailed view. NGC 281 is in Cassiopeia and contains the open cluster IC 1590 and a number of Bok globules (according to Wiki). Though the transparency was good I didn't quite capture the fainter extremes so I think a darker sky away from MK would have been needed to do much better. The guiding was working well throughout the session so quite a pleasing result. Details: 10" f4.3 Newt. 15 x 10 minute exposures @ iso1600 with CLS in DSS, FIV, CS2 & XAT.

1 comment:

Simon said...

Another fantastic image Pete. The diffraction spikes on the surrounding stars seems to accentuate their colour.

It certainly seems like we're both working in the same part of the sky as this has been next on my list for the past couple of weeks. I've just been waiting for an opportunity to do it justice. I'm giving it a shot now as I type, but the clouds aren't exactly helping.

I look forward to catching up with you at the next MKAS meeting.

Simon