IC 2602 & MEL 101- OPEN CLUSTERS

CARINA

 (Image Centred at: ra 10.43/ dec -64:19)

-December 2009, Mercedes Observatory Buenos Aires, Argentina

AAAA - Star Party

DATA

TYPE: Open Cluster

Magnitude IC 2602: 1.9 / Magnitude Mel 101: 8

Apparent Diameter: IC 2602 approximately 50 arc minutes / Mel 101: 14 arc minutes

DISTANCE: 479 lights years

IMAGE INFORMATION

SCOPE: William Optics Zenithstar 66 with WO 0.8 x fr/ff

CAMERA: Canon 20Da

GUIDING: Celestron C8 SCT working at f5.1

IMAGE ACQUISITION: Images Plus - Guiding AstroArt 3.0 - Control Interface 3.72 plug in

FILTERS: None

SKY CONDITIONS: rural skies - transparency and seeing good 

EXPOSURES: 12 x 5 minutes

PROCESSING: Calibration (Sigma Median) done Images Plus. No darks no flats no bias used. CCD Sharp, Photoshop CS2

OBJECT DESCRIPTION AND IMAGE SESSION

Visible at naked eye even from urban skies IC 2602 is also known as the Southern Pleiades cluster. It does not present the type of M45's nebulosity, but indeed there is a reflection glow coming from the main star.  I have not manipulated any data in order show what the camera had captured as real as possible. Visually it is best seen with binoculars and it is a really beauty. Its main star Theta Carinae is a third magnitude star. All the other are fifth magnitude and fainter. Its companion Mel 101, is clearly noticed at the center right of Theta Carina

IC 2602 was discovered by French astronomer Abbe Louis Lacalle in 1751 from South Africa.

Same as Orion Sword, this was the first time trying Images Plus focus routine. Unfortunately by mistake the images were acquired in the lowest JPG resolution which is about 1.9 mega pixels.