| Subject | M45 - The Pleiades - and surroundings |
| Date/Time | SEP 12, 2004 - 3:30 AM MST |
| Location | Anderson Mesa - Flagstaff, Arizona |
| Optics | 18-55 mm Canon Kit Lens @ 54 mm - f/5.6 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 300D Digital Rebel |
| Exposure | 3 x 5 min |
| Processing | Stacking, flats, darks, contrast, and color management with Adobe Photoshop CS2 |
| Supporting Links | Observing Report |
This wide shot of the Pleiades was taken on the evening that I first experimented with piggyback photography. My first attempt at processing the images came out pretty rough (See here.) However, when an editor from Sedona Magazine requested it for an upcoming edition on astronomy in Northern Arizon, I couldn't stand the idea of sending in the existing image. This is the result of reprocessing the original images with a bit more finesse. I'm still not pleased with some subtle dark ringed artifacts in the background that resulted from a poor flat field correction. I was happy to be able to process out the spurious magenta flares around the brighter stars.