At the end of last year I sent my telescope mirors to cover with fresh reflective layer of aluminium and also to improve its shape. So called ‘mirror figuring’ has been performed by experienced proffesional and the result is very good. The mirror shape differs from perfect paraboloid by less than 1/30 wavelength, that is less than 20 nanometers – that is less than 1/5000 of human hair diameter! The testing target has been famous Double Cluster in Perseus.
The picture above is 150% enlarged fragment of the one of clusters center. Star shapes and resolution are remarkable, so the numbers don’t lie 🙂
And below is the full double cluster frame. The clusters are about 7500 light years away from Earth. They are relatively young – about 12.8 million years. There are over 300 blueish super giant stars in each of the cluster and both are approaching to us at speed 39km/s.
Total exposure time for all color channels is mere 72 minutes, so no deep objects has been recorded – it was meant to be a test only, but since I have never pictures this clusters, I present it as well.
Clear skies!
