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Astrophotography Open Cluster Planet Reflection Nebula

Astrophoto: Mars and Pleiades – Messier 45 – 01/23

Mars and Pleiades on one Astrophoto, i had it in my mind for some time now. Weather was a mess, but it worked.

In January 2023, Mars was on its loop and at the loops end, on the 11th of January, Mars came very close to the Pleiades.

A Pleiades – Mars – Astrophoto was in my mind for quite some time now. I wanted a somewhat wider field. But since I still do not own a full format camera, this FoV is really ok – at least for now.

It was cloudy all the time, for several weeks. But the 11th of January let me see stars. And it was windy … and there were high clouds every now and then … and real clouds were on the way. And my guiding configuration did not want to work – i changed some stuff and did’nt test.

Due to this situation, i started collecting photons without guiding and used 45s exposures. I could only use 70 out of 270. Too many high clouds I could not see with the naked eye.

The result is one with a lot of compromises, but since there is no 2nd chance for the moment, i am still very happy with it.

High resolution on Flickr:

Mars and Pleiades

Technical overview

TelescopeOlympus Zuiko Auto-T MC 2.8
Focal Length135mm
Aperture ratio5.6
Erecting Lense
Filter
MountSkywatcher HEQ-5
Goto-ControlEKOS
Mount ControlINDI
Guiding Scope Focal Length
Guiding Camera
Guiding SoftwareEKOS, INDI
Dithering
CameraCANON EOS M100
Methodfocal projection
Camera angle-30° (Stellarium)
Camera ControlEKOS, INDI, Gphoto2
Motor-Focus
Photography Date01/11/2023
Exposure-Time Lights70x45s
Correction framesFLATS, BIASES
SensitivityISO 800
Post Processing Date01/12/2023
Stacking, IntegrationPixInsight
Post Processing SoftwarePixInsight
Image EditingAffinity Photo
Capture PlaceKoblenz, Germany
LightpollutionBortle 5
Scattered lightstrong

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