M45 with 102

Not technically part of Orion but did not feel like making another album just yet. This was taken back in November over two nights. I have been playing with this for far too long. I know there is much more in there than I know how to pull out so I will send a raw image to the processing group to play with. I think I just read that Mark is off from work today so......

Usual Set Up: Explore Scientific 102 ED imaging. Stellarvue 70mmED guiding. ST2000xcm imaging ccd. Orion Star Shoot Autoguider...guiding. All on a Sirius Goto mount. Image Capturewith CCDOps. Combining subs in Maxim DL essentials. Processing done in CS2 (Carboni) and Microsoft Digital Office Suite.

The spikes are not Carboni made...they are the result of placing some Christmas Ribbon over the objective lens. In retrospect, not the best idea, as many of the starts became diamonds. If I do in the future will try with something a bit more narrow...or just maybe not at all.

Image is the result of 18 subs x 360secs each. Total time on target 1.8 hours.