NGC 869/NGC 884 - Double cluster

[tingting44]

NGC 869 and NGC 884 both lie at a distance of 7500 light years.

Based on their individual stars, the clusters are relatively young, both 12.8 million years old.

There are more than 300 blue-white super-giant stars in each of the clusters. The clusters are also blueshifted, with NGC 869 approaching Earth at a speed of 39 km/s (24 mi/s) and NGC 884 approaching at a similar speed of 38 km/s (24 mi/s)

SW 130-pds

HEQ5

Baader LP filter

SW Coma corrector

Canon 7D

DSS,PS CS5

flats/darks/bias

Not the greatest night, i had a bit of flex in my guider bracket as i did not tighten it up fully, so only ended up with 1.2 hours of 4 min decent subs. The moon was also very bright at 83% which produced a terrible gradient which gave me some troubles in post processing, so all in all not too shabby i think...

NGC 869/NGC 884 - Double cluster by tingting44, on Flickr

[PhotoGav]

That looks lovely - some super star colour in there. Well done!

I like your introductory facts too. It's all zooming around pretty darn quickly. That always gets me - how come it all looks so serene and stationary, yet it's hurtling about at ridiculous speeds?

[tingting44]

That looks lovely - some super star colour in there. Well done!

I like your introductory facts too. It's all zooming around pretty darn quickly. That always gets me - how come it all looks so serene and stationary, yet it's hurtling about at ridiculous speeds?

Thanks a lot Gav for your very kind comments

I know its mind boggling, in about 2.5 seconds this star cluster has travelled the distance from Southampton to London (about 70 miles), and its hurtling its way towards us!!! id love to jump to the future say 1 million years would do and see what the skies look like then.......I wonder if you can travel 1 million years into the future in stellarium...? by that time tho if we are still here, which is unlikely I would guess LP would be terrible....

[StuartJPP]

Nice star colour in that one...

[tingting44]

Nice star colour in that one...

Thank you Stuart

[ollypenrice]

Nice tight image with well separated, colourful stars and a flat background. What more could we ask for?? Getting these 'simple' things isn't dead easy!

Olly

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Very nice. Like the contrast between the blue stars and the red giants scattered across the clusters, and the subtle swirl in the background.

[tingting44]

Nice tight image with well separated, colourful stars and a flat background. What more could we ask for?? Getting these 'simple' things isn't dead easy!

Olly

Hi Olly, thank you so much, I all ways take great pride in your comments coming from the master lol if I could eventually produce pictures 10% as good as yours id have a big smile on my face

Very nice. Like the contrast between the blue stars and the red giants scattered across the clusters, and the subtle swirl in the background.

Thanks buddy

[Pete Presland]

looks good to me, nice round colourful stars and the clusters standing out very well too.

[tingting44]

looks good to me, nice round colourful stars and the clusters standing out very well too.

Thanks Pete