The open star cluster NGC 457 also known as the Owl Cluster or ET Cluster is one of my favorite objects in the night sky. Open cluster are places where many stars are born together and start spreading out. Sometimes they make interesting shapes as this one shows. I've been upgrading my observatory setup and the results I'm getting are much better than in the past. I'm still learning how to use the new equipment and software but the results are showing the improvement. This was taken from a very light polluted location and shows what can still be done photographically-wise. A friend in Texas with many years of astrophotography processing helped me on the processing and taught me some new trick for this photograph..
Photographer: Rick Scott
Date / Time: January 16, 2019 at 7:28 - 8:38 PM MST
Telescope: home-made 10" f/4.6 Lurie-Houghton
Mount: Losmandy HGM Titan with Gemini 2
Camera: Canon EOS 60Da digital camera
Filter: Optolong L-Pro
Exposures: 16 x 120 sec, f/4.6, ISO 800 in raw mode
JaZ 2 Observatory
Software: DeepSkyStacker (DSS) for alignment, stacking, and RAW conversion; Adobe Photoshop CS6 for image processing
Updated: January 25, 2019