NGC 5053

NGC 5053 in Coma Berenices

Type: Globular Cluster

Magnitude: 9.8

Apparent Size: 10.5'
Distance: 56.7 kly
Physical size: ~160 ly

Date acquired: May 31, 2024

Sky Brightness ~18.25 mag/arcsec^2

Ambient Temp: 64F - 59F

Camera: Starlight Xpress SX-694 (2x2 binning) 
Guider: Starlight Xpress Lodestar off-axis.
Scope: Astrotech AT10RC @F/8 (2000 mm)

Mount: Losmandy Titan w/Gemini-2

Filters: Astronomik L, R, G & B type 2c.
Exposures: L= 24 x 90 sec; R,G,B = 7 x 90 seconds each.
Acquired, calibrated, stacked (Median) LRGB combined in Astroart 8

Processing Notes:

Calibrated with Flats, Bias & Defect Map

Linear Gradient removal to correct for light pollution.
DDP stretch on Lum.

Noise Filter on RGB masters

Images were taken (mistakenly) without the cooler enabled so the subs were noisy. Bias, Flats and Darks were subsequently taken with the roughly the same temperature to salvage the data. The image is clipped considerably to mask the noise. Median stacking was used since a few satellite trails spoiled some images. Astronomical twilight did not end until halfway through the session.