ROAST ::

August 14, and the end of the heat at last. A clear night, and the first proper chance to have another go at the Pleiades, now becoming visible in the early hours.

A much better result than the first effort back in March, when it was on the other side of the sky and I had a street light to deal with.

Imaging the Pleiades poses some problems. The main stars are very bright and the nebulosity is pretty faint. You have to balance exposure time and gain so that the stars don’t get blown out, while still capturing the nebulosity; here I used 30-second exposures with a lowish gain of 40. And a clear sky helps – any haze will cause the stars to bloom.

Details:
Target: The Pleiades (M 45)
Equipment: Dwarf Mini, Astro filter, perfect EQ
Time: 2026-08-15 02:35..04:16
Integration: 1hr 12mins (163×30secs, +5 failures), gain 40
Conditions: Clear, Bortle 6
Processing: PhotoDesk equalisation, gamma

I also had another shot at Comet 220P/McNaught. So here are three days overlaid, showing the movement (13th was Perseids, and 14th was cloudy):

And so to bed…