Photographing M34 & Friends
I took this image of M34 and dozens of distant galaxies from my Bortle 6 backyard. The total integration time is 5 hours and 1 minute.
M34 is the obvious target, but take a peek at the annotated version and you'll likely be surprised at how much more is in the image. Those faint little smudges scattered among the stars are background galaxies.
Gear
- Telescope: Tele Vue Pronto with Tele Vue TRF-2008
- Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro
- Filter: SVBony UV/IR Cut 2"
- Mount: Sky-Watcher HEQ5 PRO
- Control and focus: ZWO ASIAIR Pro and ZWO EAF
Image Acquisition
- Total integration: 5 hours 1 minute
- Location: Suburban New Jersey
- Exposures: 301 × 60 seconds
- Capture software: ZWO ASIAIR
Processing M34 & Friends
Processed in Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight.
Coming to AstroGuy’s Notebook
A very inexpensive filter saved my favorite telescope. This M34 image benefited from that filter. I had been seriously considering selling my Pronto because of the halos around bright stars. I'll share what changed in an upcoming AstroGuy's Notebook article.