M18 (The Black Swan Cluster): Just 6 minutes of RGB data in total were acquired on this sparsely populated and dim open cluster Messier object which lies in the constellation of Sagittarius. Just four 30 second subs per channel were taken with an ASI 533MM Pro camera and EFW using a Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED triplet refractor fitted with a field flattener. Data were integrated and processed in Pixinsight along with an annotated version. M18 lies at a distance of 4,900 LY from Earth and is often overlooked due to it lying close to the more interesting targets of the Omega nebula and the small Sagittarius star cloud.
M23: Just 9 minutes of RGB data in total were acquired on this open cluster Messier object which lies in the NW corner of the constellation Sagittarius. Six 30 second subs per channel were taken with an ASI 533MM Pro camera and EFW using a Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED triplet refractor fitted with a field flattener. Data were integrated and processed in Pixinsight along with an annotated version. M23 lies at a distance of 2,050 LY from Earth and contains around 400 small faint stars. The single brighter star is 6th magnitude which is unrelated to the cluster and appears as a foreground star in the same region of sky.
Albireo: Some 30 minutes of RGB data were acquired of this fine double star in the constellation of Cygnus located at the foot of the so called "Northern Cross". Six 60 second subs per channel were taken with an ASI 533MM Pro camera and EFW using a Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED triplet refractor fitted with a field flattener. Data were integrated and processed in Pixinsight along with an annotated version and an additional image stepped down to reveal the double stars more clearly and colourfully.This must be one of the most popular objects for amateur astronomers and makes for a lovely sight in just about any scope due to the contrasting colours of the pair which are of magnitude 3 and 5. The brightest star is itself a binary but requires a much larger instrument than mine to resolve the pair.
Chris Bowden
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