M35 & NGC2158 "The unlikely double cluster"

[Paramount]

Hi
I don't normally do star clusters especially the open clusters as I don't personally find them "interesting enough" (with the exception of M45 and the double cluster where there is something else of interest in the FOV) but on the odd occasion when weather and light pollution is too bad and the right combination of subjects come into view I give them a go as in the case of this image of M35 and NGC2158 which are two very contrasting open clusters that are totally unrelated to each other. M35 is a relatively young cluster made up of bluish stars while NGC2158 is about 10x older and made up of reddish stars and is also 4x further away than M35. They appear nicely in the FOV of the FSQ106ED and ML8300.
Exposure time is 12x5 minutes each for RGB which took me all night to do with continual interuptions for cloud and occasional rain
Here is a link to the full size image
http://www.pbase.com/imaging_the_hea...99828/original
Thanks for looking
Best wishes
Gordon

[RickJ]

Nice.

M35 is great visually but pretty hard to photograph. it gets lost in background stars. 2858 being highly compressed is great to image but needs rather large aperture to see much visually. Think I saw 6 stars in it in a good 6" scope. Fairly well resolved in my 10". I can't begin to fit M35 into my FOV. 2858 is a great target however.

Rick