Double cluster

[Starman]

Here's a shot of the Double cluster in Perseus taken with a Borg f/4 Astrograph (76mm) and a Canon 20Da. The pair had just risen above my roofline and looked gorgeous through the scope.

[MikeD]

And they look gorgeous on my screen, top job.

[centroid]

And they look gorgeous on my screen, top job.

And on mine too Pete!!

Very nice indeed.

Dave

[geppetto]

Beautiful widefield Pete 8)

[cygnusx1]

Where do you get such awesome skies?

Here its always cloudy or overcast

[mpeniak]

Very nice image indeed. Well done!

Martin :-D

[anthony]

A superb image. Thanks for sharing

[zhgutas]

Ditto from me Very very nice. I think I'll put it down to my list as well

Marius

[FLO]

One of my favourite targets - thanks for sharing

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

Another great image Pete.

Kaptain Klevtsov

[barkis]

I am running out of suitable words for your work young Lawrence.

h & x are wonderful favourites of mine. One night many years ago, I was looking at this beautiful object in my 12" scope. I heard my young daughter talking to a friend of hers in the garden, I called to her from the observatory to come and have a look, which she did.

After a while, probably about 15 seconds, she said, "What am I supposed to be looking at dad". After climing back up to the eyepiece to see if had moved, it hadn't, I said, you were looking at the Sword Handle in Perseus, a double cluster of hundreds of stars, to which she replied,

"Well, they're only stars dad." At that moment I felt I had failed as a father. Of course later she confessed to not wanting to appear a nerd in front of her friend. I chastised a bit, saying that beauty comes in many forms, and to be in denial of that, will make you a poor adult. To which she agreed. She has turned out a very fine adult indeed. and her job is caring for the less fortunate in this life, and she loves her job a lot.

Sorry Pete, that night rushed back into my memory when I saw your images.

Ron.

[Vega]

Awesome ... I find photo's of the double cluster never look as good as in the eyepiece.. but that there is a fine illustration

Nice one Lawrence!

Vega

[Astroman]

Hmmm, vivid colors, but I don't recall the aqua or magenta stars in the EP. Too much processing or color correction? Aside from that, excellent focus and composition.

[Starman]

Thanks for all the great comments everyone

As far as colours go, there's bound to be a bit of a colour shift as h and chi were in a particularly light polluted part of my sky. Reduction of the red element tends to bring out more unwanted blue-green than you'd like. However, I can't see any magenta stars apart from in the noisy background if I over do the contrast on my screen. Can you point out what you mean?

[Astroman]

I don't have that capability here, but several stars around the core of the upper cluster, as well as some sprinkled throughout appear magenta to me. Could be just me and my LCD monitor, (see previous discussions on double star colors).

[FLO]

A colour calibrated (using hardware, no just software) monitor is essential to truly assess colour.

[Astroman]

True, but everything else looks right on the money.

[Helen]

I love the double cluster - probably my favourite object in the sky The first time I saw it was in my first scope (a 6 inch reflector) when I was roaming around looking for something else (did a lot of that with that scope as the finder never held!). My first sighting brought gasps from me! and I think even now every time I go back to it it does something similar. I love the view of it in my Megrez 90, a jewel box.

Thanks Pete for reminding me what's in store in a few weeks when it comes above the rooftops for me!

Helen