Mars & M44

Greetings All, I finally got an opportunity very early on Saturday morning to photograph the transit of the red planet Mars across the bright star cluster M44, after a week of clouds and some rain. This shot was taken while the sky was not totally dark at 00.05am local time under less then good sky conditions, you can see from the bottom of the shot as the cloud was finally clearing westwards.

I had to add a little noise reduction as the it was quite warm (not a bad complaint), however Mars is clearly visible amongst the bright stars of this cluster.

Details: Canon 400D, 200mm L lens at f3.5, ISO 1600, 40 seconds exposure.

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Keith..

Nice shot, It was clouded out here so I got an early night.
Did you have to adjust the levels? If not your site must be nice and dark.
Did you guide or just track.

All the best
Steve

Steve, I adjusted the level only slightly as it was still bright, and a little noise adjustment too as it was very mild, which in turn produces the noise in the first place. I had the camera piggybacked on top of my SCT.

My backgarden is in a dark spot here in Cavan, so I'm lucky !

Keith..

Infacta - nice one

Very nice. You were lucky to get a clear break. Nothing but clouds here for the last 10 days.

You did well to catch that one with the weather we've been having.