NGC 3293 - THE GEM CLUSTER

CLUSTER ASSOCIATED WITH NEBULOSITY IN CARINA

 (ra: 10.35,8/ dec -58:14)

February  11th 2009, Merlo, San Luis - Argentina

DATA

TYPE: Open Cluster associated with nebulosity

APPARENT MAGNITUDE: 4.7

Apparent Diameter: 10 arc minutes

DISTANCE: 8400 lights years

OBJECT DESCRIPTION

NGC 3293 is a small but bright Globular Cluster in the Constellation of Carina. Quite similar as NGC 4755 (The Jewel Box) in terms of it age and appearance. Also known as The Gem Cluster this object can not be resisted to the eyes of the stargazer. A small target for binocular but a great sight for telescopes. The orange star is a super giant and is very well visible and gives a color distinction to the group. 

The night was not that good in terms of transparency because the Moon and seeing was good to regular. No matter that I am very happy with the performance of the scope and how the H9 brought up the image. While processing the blue channel some dim reflection nebulosity was perceived.

IMAGE INFORMATION

SCOPE: Celestron C8 SCT working at f6 (roughly)

CAMERA: SXVF H9

GUIDING: William Optics Zenithstar 66 with 0.8 x fr/ff

IMAGE ACQUISITION: AstroArt 3.0 - Control Interface 3.72 plug in

FILTERS: Astronomik Type II - Astronomik Ha 6 nm - Atik Filter Wheel

SKY CONDITIONS: transparency and seeing regular

EXPOSURES: LHaRGB (20,40,10,10,10)

PROCESSING: Maxim SD Mask, Images Plus, CCD Sharp, Photoshop CS2