M45 - The Pleiades

[Buzzard75]

Haven't shared an image with the group in a while. My version of M45, The Pleiades. Captured over three nights from two different locations. I made a bit of a boo-boo. You'll notice the image has something that is typically characteristic of reflectors, but not refractors. There are some diffractions with the brighter stars. On the second night of imaging, I removed a twist tie from one of my cables and laid it in my lens cap so I wouldn't lose it. Well, I forgot it was there and I put the lens cap back on the telescope the next morning after imaging had completed. So the third night comes along and I planned to just do luminance frames. I didn't notice it during the imaging at all. It wasn't until I started processing the luminance frames that I saw the diffractions. I thought it was odd, so I went to inspect my telescope to see what the heck was going on. And there lay the twist tie inside the dew shield. So rather than throwing it all out, I decided to keep it. It's obviously not ideal for a perfect image from a refractor, but I don't hate the effect it gives. It looks similar to what you would see on a RASA or a Hyperstared SCT due to cables. So, if you want to add natural diffraction spikes to a refractor image, try a twist tie in your dew shield. Can confirm it works.

WO Redcat 51
ZWO ASI183MM Pro
Chroma 31mm LRGB filters
ZWO EFW
ZWO ASI290MM Mini
ZWO Mini Guide Scope
Optron CEM40EC

39x300" L, 24x300" R, 17x300" G, 23x300" B (8.58 hours total)
Gain 111, Offset 10, Bortle 3-4
Captured in APT, processed in Pixinsight and Photoshop

[MartinB]

Superb M45 despite the star issues.  

[TakMan]

Very nice. The twist tie hasn't detracted too much from the final image... in fact (as Ollie would say), it's produced these 'inverted lighthouse beams' that you get with the Baby Tak FSQ85 - so you've (sort of) 'upgraded' your WO Redcat!!!

Clear skies...

Damian