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Scope: Megrez II 80 mm APO at f/5.9, Location: Del Mar, CA 4 February 2008 Camera: Artemis285
Exposure: 10 x 2 min Luminance with IR Block Filter (bin 1x1); 8 x 2 min RGB (1x1 bin)
Processing: Images were captured Artemis Capture (as FITs). Aligned/stacked and dark subtracted in Astroart with Sigma Combine. Luminance and Color channels were scaled and rough color balanced in Astroart. Central Gradient removal was performed in Astroart. Channels were co-registered in Astroart. The 2 min IR block exposures were used as the main luminance construction with level adjustments and curves to bring out dim stars. Final LRGB combine was done in Photoshop. Final touches were done in Photoshop. Final Image size is approximately 1392x1040.
North is up in this image. M67 is the cluster in the image; it is located in the constellation Cancer. M67 is one of the oldest known open clusters; many younger open clusters have predominantly blue stars, but M67 contains many red colored stars. Its age is estimated at 3.2 billion years. M67's distance to Earth is estimated at 2,700 light years. This image replaces an earlier image of this object that can be seen in the Archives here. Horizontal FOV is about 65'.
Image center is at Equatorial 2000: RA: 08h 51m 30s Dec: +11°47'17"