Messier 23, 25 & 26

Messier 23

Messier 25

Messier 26

The close proximity of these three objects in the night sky, located in the heart of the Milky Way in the constellation Sagittarius, enabled Messier to observe them for the first time in a single night (June 20, 1764).  It took me a bit longer to photograph them over the course of two nights last week.  The objects themselves are simply overwhelmed by the glorious backdrop of thousands of stars.  It's remarkable that Messier was able to discern these clusters given the rest of the view!  At first glance, they look quite similar.  But, if you focus your attention toward the center of each, you will see distinctly different clusters.  I find it simply amazing that there really are no complete duplicates of anything in the universe.  Each creation has its own distinct characteristics though governed by the same basic laws of physics.

Messier 23
August 26, 2014
Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount
Nikon D3100 Camera - ISO 1600
Baader MPC Mark III Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector
Skyglow filter
Autoguider
19 sub-frames at 3.0 minutes/frame
Total Exposure Time = 57 minutes
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop

Messier 25
August 27, 2014
Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount
Nikon D3100 Camera - ISO 1600
Baader MPC Mark III Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector
Skyglow filter
Autoguider
22 sub-frames at 3.0 minutes/frame
Total Exposure Time = 1 hour 6 minutes
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop

Messier 26
August 26, 2014
Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount
Nikon D3100 Camera - ISO 1600
Baader MPC Mark III Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector
Skyglow filter
Autoguider
13 sub-frames at 3.0 minutes/frame
Total Exposure Time = 39 minutes
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop