IC 166, NGC 654, and NGC 633 Open Clusters

Astrophotography: share your photos & discuss techniques
User avatar
menardre
Vice President
Posts: 886
Joined: Tue Jan 17, 2012 6:09 pm

IC 166, NGC 654, and NGC 633 Open Clusters

Unread post by menardre »

There are times you just have to take what you can.

A few nights ago I had a problem slewing to the object I intended to image. My mount kept telling me it was not in the visible sky, even though I knew it was. I traced the problem down to a bad GPS fix. Some people have noted that running a computer next to a GPS receiver can cause problems (not sure if this is correct). I usually turn my mount on first so that when I turn on my computer it recognizes the mount.

The next day I troubleshot the mount and could not repeat the problem ( I did not turn the computer On). While I was at the mount I decided to generate a 'horizon obstruction map' for SkyTools4. This is actually easy to due. I pointed the scope just above the obstruction (observatory walls, trees, etc) and note the angle. I did this for each 45 deg segment from 0 deg to 360 deg. SkyTools4 then uses this to show you when any selected object will be visible from my observatory. It allows me a little more control of the planning process. My obstructed view goes from about 12 deg to almost 30 deg.

So.... I then decided to verify the mount GPS is working properly and the obstructed view graph is correct, so I decided to image 3 open clusters in Cassiopeia (which is almost at the meridian so it definitely is in the field of view). I picked those objects since the Moon was bright but should not impact imaging an open cluster.
I used SGP to platesolve for all three objects (NGC 654, NGC 633, and IC 166) and created events for each object. I took 65 images of NGC 633, 75 of NGC 654, and 120 images of IC 166. All were 1 minute exposures, -10C, gain 100, and binned 1x1. The system work flawlessly. All 3 objects were found and centered and SGP performed meridian flip on schedule. All I had to do was get up at 1AM and take flats. 11 inch SCT and ZWO ASI2600 OSC used for imaging.

Open clusters may not be the most impressive objects in the night sky, but I sometimes do like to image them anyway. They all have a story to tell.

Roger
Open Cluster IC 166
IC 166 Open Cluster.jpg
IC 166 Open Cluster.jpg (12.31 MiB) Viewed 197 times
IC 166 Platesolve.jpg
IC 166 Platesolve.jpg (12.15 MiB) Viewed 197 times
Open Cluster NGC 654
NGC 654 Open Cluster.jpg
NGC 654 Open Cluster.jpg (6.13 MiB) Viewed 197 times
NGC 654 Platesolve.jpg
NGC 654 Platesolve.jpg (6.28 MiB) Viewed 197 times
Open Cluster NGC 633
NGC 663 Open Cluster.jpg
NGC 663 Open Cluster.jpg (5.85 MiB) Viewed 197 times
NGC 663 Platesolve.jpg
NGC 663 Platesolve.jpg (4.37 MiB) Viewed 197 times
[attachment=1]
Roger M.
Celestron CPC1100 EDGE, Stellarvue 130T refractor dual mounted on iOptron CEM120 on permanent pier mounted in Observatory. Imaging camera ZWO ASI2600 OSC, guide camera Lodestar or ZWO ASI290MM.
Post Reply