Messier 45, sometimes called Seven Sister, Pleiades or Subaru, is an open cluster located in constellation Taurus. The cluster contains many hot blue stars and it’s characterized by reflection nebulosity. The cluster is easily visible by naked eye and therefore it has been used in mythology of many cultures around the world.
The picture was created by stacking of 80 pictures with total integration time 4 hours. In order to capture the nebulosity properly, the light pollution should be minimal, which I manage to experience during our trip to Milos Island. Unfortunately, the mount was not cooperating and in declination axis occurred oscillations due to backlash. Therefore the stars are bit oval. Maybe it’s time to upgrade the mount and pick something backlash free. I would select something portable like Astrotrac 360 or Avalon Instruments M-Zero.
Technical details:
| Telescope | Newton 150/600 mm |
| Aperture | 150 mm |
| Focal length | 660 mm |
| Mount | iOptron CEM25P |
| Autoguiding | QHYCCD miniGuideScope 130 mm f/4.3, ZWO 174 MM |
| Camera | ZWO 071 Pro @-10C |
| Corrector | Explore Scientific HR coma corrector |
| Filters | Astronomik L-1 - UV IR Block Filter |
| Exposure | 60x180s, Gain 134, bin 1x1, |
| Date | 2018-09-15 |
