M103

M103: M103 is an open cluster in the constellation Cassiopeia.

Messier: 103
NGC: 581
Right Ascension: 1h 33.2m
Declination: 60° 42'
Apparent Magnitude: 7.4

Date: October 2010
Equipment:
Telescope: Meade 16" Schmidt Cassegrain with f6.3 reducer (used at ~ f6.1)
Camera: SBIG ST-10XE
Guiding: AO-8

Exposure: L: 20x15s, binned 1x1
RGB: 5x1m, binned 2x2
The camera was at -35°C

Processing Notes: Data acquisition with CCDSoft. Reduced and aligned in CCDStack and combined with Sigma combine. Arcsine stretch import of L into Photoshop. Repaired three brightest stars. Adjusted curves and levels. Slight noise reduction and blur on the dim areas and overall sharpening. RGB combined in AstroArt at 1:1.02:1.60 ratio. Adjusted curves and levels, and reduced noise of RGB. L was combined with RGB as a single luminance layer.
Scale: 0.52"/pixel on highest resolution

Links to images of this object on other sites:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap010207.html
http://www.mistisoftware.com/astronomy/Clusters_m103.htm

Additional Comments: Mediocre seeing. Limited time available. Halloween night after trick or treat.

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