NGC 2360 (aka Caroline's Cluster)

OPEN CLUSTER IN CANIS MAYOR

(ra: 07h 18' 21"/ dec -15º 40')

January 2013, -  Home backyard in Martinez, Buenos Aires - Argentina

DATA

TYPE: Open Cluster

Visual Brightness: 7.2

APPARENT DIAMETER: 13 arc minutes

DISTANCE: 6150 light years

IMAGE INFORMATION

SCOPE: AT RC 8" Astrograph Ritchie Chrétien 

CAMERA: QSI 583 WS

GUIDING: Off Axis / SX LodeStar / PHD Guiding

FILTERS: Baader LRGB Set

SKY CONDITIONS: Urban Skies, half Moon

EXPOSURES: LRGB (20,20,20,20) - all channels bin 1x1

OBJECT DESCRIPTION AND IMAGE SESSION

Caroline Herschel discovered this clusters on February 26 1763 and included in her list as number 2. This cluster was her first original discovery of a deepsky object. Her brother William included it in his catalog. The cluster contains roughly 80 stars, mostly of them relatively faint.

This is the first test of the AT RC 8" f8 Telescope. I did not take any flats and the raw files had several dust donuts neutralized in the processing. The first attempt in off axis guiding, with Telescope Service Thin Off Axis Guider