M44 - OPEN CLUSTER

Cancer

Location (ra: 08:40,1/ dec 19:59)

Close view of the center full resolution click here

DATA

TYPE: Open Cluster

VISUAL MAGNITUDE: 3.1

SIZE: 95 arc minutes

DISTANCE 577 light years

OBJECT DESCRIPTION

Messier 44, known as the Beehive cluster. The object is easily visible to the naked eye and a good target for binoculars and small telescopes. Its age was estimated at about 730 million years. Because its position, near the ecliptic, M44 is usually visited by planets and Comets. It was thought as a nebula and Galileo resolved it in bright blue stars. Charles Messier catalogued on March 1769

The photograph above shows very little coma in the borders considering the size of the Canon 20 Da CMOS.  Below it is expose an 8 bits JPG image with the original size croped to check the good resolution of the ED 80. The central triangle asterism shows a small red star which can be easily distinguished from its large companion.

IMAGE INFORMATION

SCOPE: Orion ED 80 @f7.5

MOUNT: MEADE LXD 75

SKY CONDITIONS: very good

CAMERA: Canon DSRL 20Da

FILTERS: IDAS LPS

EXPOSSURES: 15 x 120 seconds  

PROCESSED: Darks & Bias removal and Sigma Combine in ImagesPlus, Photoshop CS

M44 - Center ED 80 & 20 Da Performance

Full Resolution Croped