Strange effects in M45 image

[jnc71106]

Hi all I took this image on Saturday

M45 2hrs 30 mins of data in 5 min subs. Dark + flats applied

Taken with ikharus 102 + ff/fr + canon 500d no filters used

There is an odd streak going through Alcyone that is present on all the subs

And all the diffraction bubbles on the bright stars are slighty shifted west of the star that caused them

Anyone know what might have caused this ??

Cheers

[kenmyers]

May I say that is a great image.

Maye the bubbles are off centre due to the direction of motion of the stars through space?

I hope you get your answers.

[Earl]

They could be reflections.

[Tom OD]

I think the reflections might be all in one direction due to collimation. I'm not familar with your scope. Is it a reflector / refractor etc...

That spike in Alcoyne is probably just an opticaleffect from its brightness. The other stars are (I think) more hidden behind nebuloisty, so it doesn't exhibit as strong an optical effect. I could be wrong on both answers though.

Tom

[jnc71106]

It's a frac so collimation isn't a word I really wanted to hear . My original guess was reflections of some sort

[jnc71106]

It's also present in another image. With altinak being the culprit

http://

[Tom OD]

I wouldn't panic about it. I only suggested collimation as I seem to remember seeing something similar in a reflector scope of a deep sky object. The off center of the reflection changed throughout the field of the pic. So in the top left the reflection wasoffset to the top left, and vice versa for the bottom right. This I thouht was just bright reflections. If the collimation was off, all reflections would be in the same direction. Someone else on the group may be able to help with this.

Tom.

[nytecam]

Very nice image - wish my skies permitted such exposures:mad:

The streak looks to me like an optical diffraction effect as if there's partial obstruction by a straight edge over the scope or within the camera - but why not on all the brighter stars in pic can't say:rolleyes: