Pleiades Star Cluster (rcw)

Pleiades Star Cluster

30 second exposures
64 minutes of data
ISO 800

This is my second attempt at capturing the Pleiades Star Cluster. Mostly testing my gear, finding out what I can improve on with capturing and post processing.

I'm noticing I have what I believe is "walking noise", which could be cause by poor polar alignment. I do need to work on that as it is something I struggle with.

But I was able to capture over an hours worth of data, which I can see brings out more of the emission nebula.

I notice shooting at a lower ISO has reduced noise.

My camera sensor appears to be dirty however, it didn't ruin the target, but there was a large dark spot in the corner frame.

I guess AstroBin isn't really meant to be a diary, but I'm using it as such anyway. Documenting what I need to improve on and sharing my progress and *hopeful* improvement over time.

I shoot in my backyard currently. I notice there is a glow of light coming from the corner, likely one of the street lamps. Currently difficult to get to a dark site.

I think that is however, the least of my problems.

The walking noise is definitely the largest issue at hand and completely unacceptable.

Homework for next session:
- Is it poor polar alignment? Find out how I can get better polar alignment, I'm seemingly getting Polaris properly within the reticule. Is it off?
- My tripod might be unbalanced actually. It inbetween two different surfaces, which could make for unevenness. This could be the most likely perpetrator if my polar alignment is okay (I'm not expecting perfection on polar alignment)
- How do I dither to hopefully accommodate for such issues?

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Distribution of astrophotographers

This table shows the number of distinct astrophotographers who have been assigned and IOTD/TP award compared to the total number of images awarded.
	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

Distribution of subject types

This table shows the distribution of awards per subject type, compared to the popularity of images of that subject type.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

Distribution of data sources

This table shows the distribution of awards per data source, compared to the popularity of images acquired from that data source.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

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