NGC869 and 884

"The Double Cluster"

Constellation- Perseus

Right Ascension: 02h 19m 21s

Declination: +57° 10' 15"

Distance: 7100 and 7400 light years

Visual Brightness: 4.0 mag

Apparent Dimension: 30 arc minutes

Image information-

Date taken- September 21, 2004

Telescope/Focal length/Camera/Temperature- Takahashi FS-78 @ f/8.1, ST-8XE NABG @ -20C, autoguided with CCDSoft Ver. 5.0

Integrations- LRGB, L = 1 x 300 seconds binned 1x1, RGB = 1 x 300 seconds each binned 1x1

Processing- Flats and darks in CCDsoft Ver 5.0, aligned and combined in Astroart 2.0

Note: this was the first time I've used the ST-8 on the Tak since I got it. It amazed me that I could get such a wide field out of such a long focal length.