2022.10.04 – IC4665

IC 4665. Open Cluster that is about 1400 light years away.

For some reason I never think of shooting star clusters. Not certain why. Galaxies and nebulas are always my first choices. They are more interesting images to shoot and process. But Myles chose this target. It was in view we are just getting back into the swing of imaging after a 10 months hiatus. Also we have a limited range of targets from our backyard. So, I’m open to new targets we are able to shoot.

We got 60 images at 120 gain and 60s exposure time. 5 darks, 5 bias, and 10 flats to help put together the image above (and below).  I wish I was able to make all the stars in the shot brighter. I want to see a million small stars with the main cluster being the biggest and brightest in the shot. I want the image so overwhelmed with stars. But I couldn’t and the final image turned out fine. It just seemed like it was missing something. 

So, I added star diffractions in the post processing. Now I am not saying it looks better. It does add and make the original image more interesting. It’s personal preference of course. I really can’t decide if I like that many stars with diffractions. I usually don’t mind adding 1 or 2 to a main star in a shot. I’ve seen some images and the individual was able to put diffractions on a lot of stars and some how still make it look good. I think if more stars had it I might like my final image more. It’s a fair first attempt adding that many I guess.

Star diffractions or no?

It will be debatable if I will use again. Funny with clusters I want to work on exposing as many stars as possible but for nebulas I focus on removing.