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Scope: C8 f/6.6; Location: Del Mar, CA; 10 May. 2005; Camera:
Artemis285
Exposure: 7 x 120 sec and 7 x 60 Luminance exposures (bin 1x1)with Baader IR Block Filter; 6 x
45 sec RGB (bin 2x2)
Processing: Images were captured Artemis Capture (as FITs). Aligned/stacked in Registax
3 and saved as FITS. Luminance and Color channels were scaled and rough color balanced in
IRIS. Channels were co-registered in IRIS. The 120 sec exposures were used as
the main luminance with some blending in the core area of the 60 sec Luminance
exposures. Final LRGB combine was done in Photoshop using Luminance Layering (or
LLRGB). Minor star repair was made
on edge stars (focus was less then optimal - there was some coma). Color balancing and final touches in Photoshop. SGBNR was used to smooth background noise on the luminance channel.
Final Image size is approximately 1392x1040
This image was first light with the Artemis285 on loan. The image was taken with fairly good conditions at a
light polluted site. This is a guided image. As mentioned in the processing, the
focus was off (hey, it was my first use of the camera). But with a little star
repair, the image was salvageable. M3 is one of the more outstanding globular
clusters - it contains an estimated half million stars and is estimated to be
about 34,000 light years distant. This image replaces an earlier image that can be
seen in the Archives here. Horizontal FOV is
24'
Object Center is approximately - Equatorial 2000: RA: 13h 42m 11s Dec: +28°22'34"
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