M37 is the most spectacular of the three open clusters in the constellation of Auriga and contains 1890 stars spread across a region of 20 light-years, at a distance of 4,400 light-years from Earth.  The brilliant orange star near the center is the brightest of about a dozen "red giants" in the cluster, whose visual orange-red color contrasts with the surrounding young blue-white stars when viewed thru my 4" refractor.

IMAGE DETAILS:

• Date & Location:  January 14, 2010  - Bernville, PA

• Weather:  Calm, 24F.

• Sky Conditions:  Patchy cirrus with average transparency. 

• Optics:  TeleVue NP101is Refractor with 0.8x TeleVue Reducer = 432mm @ f4.3

• Filter:  Astronomic  EOS clip-in CLS-CCD (Light Pollution Suppression)

• Mount:  Losmandy G-11 equatorial with Gemini V4

• Guiding:  Orion Solitaire w/TeleVue TV60is

• Camera:  Canon T1i (500D) Hap Griffin Modified - Baader UV/IR

• Exposure:  25 min (2 x 4 min, 5 x 5min) @ ISO 400 RAW

• Calibration Frames:  No dark frame subtraction (24F)

• Processing:  Photoshop CS4, Noise Ninja, NIK, Noel Carboni Astronomy Tools

• Comments:  Background sky was darkened in processing a bit more than usual in order to make the star colors more prominent.