One of the best couple of astronomical objects over the entire sky, the Double Cluster is located in the constellation Perseus. The catalog number of the two is NGC869 and NGC884. The first is the richest in stars, being formed of 340 components. The other contains about 300 components. They are among the youngest clusters in our galaxy, and are about one million years old. Also with small scopes, the color of their stars is easily detectable. With a low power eyepiece, they assure a spectacular vision, with hundreds of stars filling the FOV.

Camera : Starlight Xpress SXV-H9 with Astronomik LRGB Type II filters


Telescope : Takahashi FS-102 at F/6 with focal reducer on a GM2000-FS2


Guiding : ST4 on a Vixen 80/910mm.


Exposure : L 6x300sec. unbinned - RGB 3x180sec. each binned 2x2


Processing : MaxIm (align, combine, stretching) - Photoshop (final enhancing)


Location : from my backyard in Castano Primo (Mi)


Date : August 21, 2004


Note : bad, bad, bad seeing!!

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