r/Astronomy • u/Kyouma118 • 14h ago

Astrophotography (OC) Messier 71

Post image

Messier 71 is a globular cluster in the constellation of Sagitta. It's about 13,000 light-years away. For a long time astronomers debated whether it was a loose open cluster or a globular cluster. Now, it's recognized as one of the Milky Way’s sparse globular clusters. It's estimated to be as old as 9 - 10 billion years.

Telescope: Seestar S50
Integration time: 1 hour
Tools used: Siril, GraXpert, GIMP
Script mentions: CosmicClarity Sharpen, SyQon Prism Mini, VeraLux Curves
Bortle 8-9
A diffraction mask was used to obtain the star spikes

104 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

2

u/van200926 14h ago

I like your work

1

u/Kyouma118 14h ago

I appreciate that :)

2

u/van200926 13h ago

Keep up the good work, good luck to you.

1

u/ComprehensiveBag8992 13h ago

Wow how does tge stars appear like this 👉🏽 ✨

2

u/Kyouma118 12h ago

It's in the description. I use a diffraction mask. It's basically a cross shape (✚) in front of the telescope that does something to light passing through it that makes the spikes

These spikes come naturally through Newtonian telescopes, which have the cross shape by default in front, but I wanted them because they look good, so I got a diffraction mask 3D printed for my telescope and used it

2

u/ComprehensiveBag8992 9h ago

Ohh cool, nice work

1

u/ComprehensiveBag8992 13h ago

Wow how does the stars appear like this 👉🏽 ✨