Observation by John Hughes: NGC869 & NGC884, the Double Cluster ...

Uploaded by

Mr John William Hughes

Observer

John Hughes

Observed

2020 Oct 09 - 21:00

Uploaded

2020 Oct 12 - 11:45

Objects

NGC884
NGC869

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Constellation

Perseus

Field centre

RA: 02^h20^m
Dec: +57°09'
Position angle: +0°17'

Field size

1°46' × 1°22'

Equipment

William Optics Z103 Refractor
ZWO ASI1600mm Pro Cooled camera
Chroma 1.25” filters LRGB
SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro mount

Exposure

Gain 139, Offset 30

Location

North Essex, UK

Target name

NGC869 & NGC884

Title

NGC869 & NGC884, the Double Cluster in Perseus

About this image

Having spent the last few months imaging nebulae and removing stars from images, it makes a nice change to concentrate on the stars.

One of my favourite star clusters is the Double Cluster in Perseus which is now rising nicely in the North East sky.

The Double Cluster itself is made up of two open clusters, NGC869 and NGC884 that are some 7,500 light years away.

Analysis of the stars spectra show that the light is blue shifted meaning that both clusters are moving towards Earth. NGC884 has five prominent red supergiant stars though the star clusters themselves are young with an age of c12.8 million years. This suggests that both clusters formed from the same interstellar gas cloud.

This image was captured on 9 October 2020 from my garden. It is made up of the following data;

· Red/Green/Blue - 18 subs @ 300 seconds for each filter.

· Luminance - 30 subs @ 180 seconds.

· Calibration frames - 50 separate darks, flats and flat darks.

Files associated with this observation

NGC869& NGC884 Border.jpg (2.0 MB)

Like this image

Geof Lewis, Jeremy Shears, David Basey, Peter Mulligan, Graham Winstanley, Manolo_Rodriguez

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