Object: Scorpius Jewel Box
Date: 5/22/04
Location: Texas Star Party - Ft. Davis, TX 
Telescope: TeleVue 85mm refractor (f/5.6) piggyback on a Meade 10" LX200
Guiding: 208XT
Camera: Canon Digital Rebel (300D) @ Prime Focus
Exposure: 5x1min, ISO-800, 55-60 degrees
Processing: Raw images converted to 16bit TIFF and stacked (min/max excluded average) in ImagesPlus.  Levels and curves (final color balance) were adjusted in Photoshop.
Comments:  This is a beautiful region of the constellation Scorpius just above the star (Zeta Scorpii -  bottom center)  where the tail begins to curve to the East.  The bright open cluster in the lower center (NGC 6231) is known as the Northern Jewel Box, not to be confused with the Jewel Box in Crux.   6231 is also known as the Table of Scorpius.  I captured the Jewel box image at TSP for Dick Olsen, one of my fellow ASLC campers.  Dick is primarily a binocular observer and loves this region of Scorpius.  After processing the image, I was surprised to see the nebulosity in the upper left (IC 4628) and will visit this area again to take a longer exposure. 

© Dave Dockery 2004