Combination of 12, 5 minute exposures using an H-alpha filter.
SBIG ST-8XE CCD. 50mm Nikon lens at f/4.
Much of the constellation Perseus straddles the Milky Way. as a result, those regions are rich inn emission nebulae. However the south-eastern regions of the constellation are away from the Milky Way and thus devoid of the nebulae as seen in the image above. In that image, alpha persi is the bright star in the upper left, while at the bottom right is the open cluster M 34 .
What a difference a filter makes!!! The image below was taken without the h-alpha filter and at f/2. aAs a result the brighter stars are considerably bloated due to the unfocused infra-red light.
