M38

M38: This is one of several bright open clusters in the constellation Auriga. The others with Messier designation are M36 and M37. It's diameter of 20' doesn't quite fit completely on the image sensor at this focal length. (The field of view here is closer to 12'x18'.)

Messier: 38
Right Ascension: 5hr 28m
Declination: 35° 51'
Apparent Magnitude: 7.4

Date: November 2009
Equipment:
Telescope: Meade 16" Schmidt Cassegrain with f6.3 reducer
Camera: SBIG ST-10XE
Guiding: Meade 5" refractor/DSI Pro/PHD

Exposure: R: 5x1m
G: 5x1m
B: 5x1m

Processing Notes: Data acquisition in CCDSoft. Reduction and alignment in CCDStack. Combine RGB (1:1:1.5) and save as Tiff(view) in AstroArt. Final processing - stretch, smooth dim areas, and sharpen stars in Photoshop.
Scale: 1.01

Additional Comments: Somewhat of a target of opportunity, taken between longer exposures of other targets.

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