Canon 350D Hap Griffin Baader Mod
17x180sec at iso 1600
30 Darks/Flats/Bias
APM/TMB 130/780 with APM Field Flattener

NGC 457 - The "Owl Cluster" - shown here with the owl upside down in the lower right corner, was discovered by F.W. Herschel in 1787 and is also catalogued as Cr 12, Mel 7, OCL 321, Lund 43, H VII-42, h 97, GC 256. This cluster seems to attract nicknames, and has also been called the Kachina Doll Cluster, the E.T. Cluster, the Owl Cluster and the Nazgul Cluster. The brightest star in the cluster, Phi Cassiopeiae is not a member of the cluster, but a foreground star instead. The cluster is about 9000 ly from the sun.

NGC 436 is the cluster in the upper left of the field, and was discovered by F.W. Herschel in 1787 and is also catalogued as Cr 11, Mel 6, OCL 320, Lund 320, H VII-45, GC 244. It, sadly, has no nicknames.

September 1, 2008