Double Cluster

Shot this last night from the backyard using my Olympus e-30 at iso 500, coupled to a hexanon 200mm lens at f4 with red enhancing filter. This was a stack of three 4 minute exposures using iOptron Skytracker. Neat Image used for noise reduction, PE12 for some post processing and Star Spikes software for added artistic rendering.

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Very nice! I actually kinda like the "diffraction spikes" remind me of the view thru a scope with a spider. Decades ago I did photographic constellations and would add a tape cross over the lens pupil to get that affect. Purists would of course suppress spikes, arguing that they are "unnatural" AKA Not characteristic of the object, but of the instrument. But in the limit, stars technically would be completely unresolved DOTS much smaller even than single pixels. In that sense, Everything that we see is almost entirely artifactual. Even the Airy Disc is instrumental artifact! Reductio ad absurdum. Nice pic! Tom Dey

Lovely image.