Messier 68
04-Jul-2020
M68 is a globular cluster at a distance of about 33,000 light-years away from Earth.
The cluster may be undergoing core-collapse, and it displays signs of being in rotation. The cluster may have been acquired by the Milky Way galaxy through accretion from a satellite galaxy. (Source: Wikipedia)
Image:
- 49x 180s Red
- 40x 180s Green
- 46x 180s Blue
Total integration 6 hours 45 minutes. Focal length: 1960mm
Hardware:
- Celestron 11" EdgeHD
- Skywatcher EQ8 Pro mount
- QSI 683-ws8 Camera @ -15°C
- Astrodon RGB Gen2 E-Series Tru-Balance filters
- Starlight Xpress Lodestar X2 Autoguider
- Innovations Foresight ONAG
- Starlight Instruments Feather Touch Focuser
Location:
- Exposed over 3 nights between 5th to 12th April 2020
- Orange zone in Brisbane, Australia. (Bortle 7)
Software:
- Planning & camera alignment with Aladin 10
- Captured with TheSkyX Professional
- Guiding with PHD2
- PixInsight: Calibrate, align, integrate, dynamic background extraction, RGB combination, noise reduction, photometric color calibration, masked stretch, curves, crop.