Messier 41 (NGC 2287) from my own backyard and remote

The open cluster M41 (NGC 2287) lies in the constellation Canis Major, about four degrees south of the brilliant star Sirius. It is a large, bright cluster containing dozens of stars, many of them orange and red giants, which create a warm contrast against the surrounding field of bluer stars and the rich background of the winter Milky Way.

I have photographed this object twice — first in 2007 using my DSLR camera from my backyard, and most recently in 2022 using a professional dataset provided by Telescope Live, one of my favorite remote imaging platforms with telescopes located in Chile, Australia, and Spain.

The data calibration, registration, and final image processing were all performed in PixInsight.

The images were taken with the following equipment:

• Date: 2022
• Location: El Sauce Observatory, Chile
• Telescope: Planwave CDK24
• Focal length [mm]: 3962
• Focal ratio: 6.5
• Mount: Mathis MI-1000/1250
• Camera: FLI PL 9000
• Filter: L:R:G:B
• Exposure time [min]: 120:110:100:110
• Resolution: 0.62″/px

My first successful images of this object were captured in 2007 from my backyard. The data calibration and registration were performed in DeepSkyStacker, while the final image processing was completed in PixInsight.

The images were taken with the following equipment:

• Date: 2007
• Location: Krefeld, Germany
• Telescope: Pentax 75
• Focal length [mm]: 500
• Focal ratio: 6.7
• Mount: Vixen GP-DX
• Camera: Canon 300Da
• Filter: OSC
• Exposure time [min]: 10
• Resolution: 3.04″/px