C41 / Hyades / Mel 25
| Name | Hyades |
| Designation(s) | C41, Mel 25 |
| Object Type(s) | Open Cluster |
| Relevant Catalog(s) | All (Chron), Caldwell |
| Obs. Lat/Long | 42° 17', 073° 57' |
| Constellation | Taurus |
| Date and Time Observed | 2025-09-12 05:05:00 |
| Instrument | Askar V 60mm w reducer f4.5-270mm FL |
| Camera | ASI2600MC-Pro |
| Image Details | Up is 91.5 degrees E of N. Transparency: Fair. Seeing: Good. Total integration time was 5m. Exposures 15s@101g. Dithered and recentered in SharpCap. No guiding. |
| Description | I hadn't actually planned on capturing Hyades this morning. However, I'd left the Askar V out on my pier under a cover. Waking at 4 AM I saw that it had turned clear, and this was the obvious target with the moon high overhead. The reduced resolution web images. don't really do it justice... many of the pinpoint stars in the 2600mc image disappear... try expanding the "closeup" image in the gallery, though that is still roughly 25% of the original resolution. This is the brightest open cluster in the Melotte catalog. Obviously, it's been known since antiquity as Taurus' head, but no one seems to have cataloged it as a cluster until Melotte in 1915. Not a great telescope-imaging target just because it's so huge: my image captures its core, but not its full extent. A couple of years ago, my telescope was on the blink and I spent much of the winter binocular observing from my deck. The Hyades - Aldebran - which is just left of this image, were often a touchstone as I triangulated and star-hopped to other targets such as the Beehive Cluster. With my imaging telescopes now working fine, I rely on plate-solving to locate targets, but I do miss the fun of locating them with a star map and my wits through the binoculars. |
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