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Caldwell 14 - The Double Cluster


sagramore

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Hi all.

Some of you may have noticed that I just posted a thread with M45 in it. Well, once M45 went behind my house I didn't want to waste all the time I spent setting the scope up and aligning it for the night so I managed to grab 1 hour on the double cluster, Caldwell 14.

I know it's "just" a star cluster, but it's always one of my favourite observing targets and I think it's just simply beautiful to look at and, having learned some new processing techniques, I think it's got some gorgeous colours to it too!

Thanks for looking :)

Hamish / sagramore

 

CLICK HERE for a Flickr high resolution version

C14001 - First Attempt - Complete 100pct.jpg

 

Caldwell 14 - The Double Cluster

2016-11-29, near Swindon, England

Gear:
* Skywatcher 130-PDS with 0.9x coma corrector (585 mm, f/4.5)
* Skywatcher NEQ6-Pro Synscan
* Canon EOS 550D (unmodified) and Skywatcher 2" LP filter
* ZWO ASI120-MC guide camera
* Skywatcher Startravel 80 guide scope

Acquisition & Processing:
* AstrophotographyTools (APT) and PHD2 guiding with dithering
* 12 x 300s = total 60 minutes @ ISO 800
* Flats, library darks (7-12 C), library bias
* Stacked in DeepSkyStacker and post-processed in Photoshop CC 2015 with Gradient Xterminator

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30 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

Super. Just a tad green on my screens so I wonder how it would look if you lowered the mid point in green just a smidgen in Ps Levels or some such?

Olly

Thanks for the tip - I'm actually moderately red/green colourblind so sometimes those "slight colours" across the whole image are completely invisible to me :) I will have a play and get my g/f to check it! Haha.

 

EDIT: What about now? I used the "HLVG" plugin for Photoshop. Hasta la vista, green!

C14001 - First Attempt - Complete 100pct HLVG.jpg

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Sorted perfectly! In Ps you can use the eyedropper tool set to colour sampler to place four markers on the background sky in various places. I'd set the sampler to 3X3 average myself. This gives you a brightness reading in each channel. If they are about equal, say 23/23/23 you know your colour balance can't be too far out.

Olly

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