Open cluster M34

About the object

Open cluster M34 in Perseus, roughly a hundred stars about two hundred million years old, scattered over an area the size of the full Moon. In binoculars it is a hazy patch; a telescope resolves it into individual bright stars. The cluster lies halfway between Algol and Almach, so it is easy to find, and for a city balcony it is a rewarding target: bright stars do not mind light pollution.

Distance: about 1,500 light-years, apparent size in the sky: ≈ 35′, constellation Perseus.

How it was shot

Everything here was shot with a DWARF Mini smart telescope from a balcony in a city in Ukraine: light-polluted sky, only the eastern half of it visible, and a roof overhang that cuts off the south. 1 night (in August), 1 session, 74 frames with exposures of 30 s, without a filter, in broadband. The stack holds 37 min of light. The goal for this object is 1 h, 61% done so far.

Open cluster M34 in the night log: 23 August.

How it went

One night of thirty-second frames without a filter, and the cluster is closed: bright stars in a city sky do not need hours. The only difficulty was not clipping the brightest stars while keeping the faint ones, hence the short exposure and many frames. It is a typical 'quick' challenge object between long nebula series.