M7 - WIP

[hjw]

Hi,

Over the last couple of nights we had the first clear skies for a month. Having the Sagittarius region overhead I decided to do what, I guess, most people do when they start off - collect my Messier objects. I might cause an upset here, but I find star clusters rather dull, compared to nebulae or galaxies. Hence I took only short exposures (20-30 x 60sec) for most of the objects (M4, M19, M21, M62, M69 and M70). Then along came M7, an open cluster, and here it was the background which really impressed me. M7 sits in a very dense part of the milky way with a number of dark nebulae around it. The image is only 20 frames 60sec each ISO1600 - hence the work in progress. I tried some more pictures last night, however, Melbourne does what it is famous for - being unpredictable with its weather. Clear sky but gale force winds...

Clear (and calm) skies!

HJ

[xtreemchaos]

great image mate, great detail,i would be well happy with a image like that, well done. thanks for sharing. charl.

[glowingturnip]

That's very nice mate.

I know what you mean about star clusters - I reckon open clusters in particular always look much better through a pair of binoculars with a beer in hand than they ever look in a photo, but the background and those dark nebula really make this shot, well done.

I can see M7 from my Spain site (it's the one to the left of Scorpio's sting isn't it) but I think it's going to be a tad low in the LP dome from distant Malaga to get a shot like this.

Some slight halo-ing going on around those bright stars though ?

[hjw]

...

Some slight halo-ing going on around those bright stars though ?

Thanks!

You have to remember it is only 20 minutes worth of exposure. Once I guessed what was underneath the cluster I wanted to see more and pushed the boundaries a bit. On my next clear (and calm) night I will give this cluster its due attention.

Cheers

HJ

[glowingturnip]

looking forward to seeing your results

[Tzitzis]

What a beautiful image! Well done!

Keep imaging-posting!

[laudropb]

Lovely image. M7is too low for us here in Scotland, so it's nice to see what we are missing.