Abell 539 is a rich galaxy cluster located in the constellation Orion. It lies at a distance of approximately 300 million light years and most of the galaxies range in magnitude from 15 to 18. The above image shows more than 35 galaxies in a field 12' across and the cluster extends well outside this view spanning nearly 1 degree in the sky.

OPTICS 10" Newtonian f/5.2
MOUNT Losmandy G11 equatorial
CAMERA Philips ToUCam Pro SC1 webcam
FILTERS None
EXPOSURE 24 x 120s
DATE/TIME 02/12/2005 14:26 UTC
LOCATION My backyard observatory in west Auckland, New Zealand