| Abell 2151 Hercules Galaxy Cluster Abell 2151 Hercules Super Cluster of Galaxies Abell 2151 (Hercules Cluster) is a cluster of approximately 100 galaxies 650 million light years away within the constellation of Hercules. I attempted my own Deep Field while setting up remotely here in Oregon for one night. I wanted to go as deep as I could and took over 4 hours of CCD images to capture as many galaxies as possible. I have counted over 200 galaxies in this image; I believe some are very faint and small background galaxies. You can see several interacting galaxies that are within the Hercules Cluster. While this is no-where near what larger instruments can resolve with long exposures I am pleased with what a small telescope can accomplish in one night. |
| Telescope / Lens | TEC 140 f/7 |
| Mount Type | Astrophysics 1200 |
| Camera | SBIG ST10XME |
| Filters | Astrodon LRGB e-series of balanced filters (generation 1) |
| Film | CCD |
| Exposure | 260 minutes (4 hours 20 minutes) LRGB (L=200 m (6x20, 6x10 4x5) RGB=20 each, 5 min. subs |
| Processing | CCDSoft, CCDStack, AIP, Photoshop CS2 |
| Date | 07/24/2009 |
| Location | Snow Peak, S/E of Cottage Grove, Oregon 122° 52' 35" W,
43° 31' 21"N |
| Conditions | 4658' elevation, magnitude 6 Skies; Clear ; Humidity 65-82% 51 degrees, wind 5-6 M.P.H. |