Instant gratification

Messier 35 and NGC 2158
by Mickut

The open and globular cluster are as close to instant gratification as you can get in astrophotography. No finicky wisps of nebuloisty to stretch out from the background noise, just simple stars and lots of them at times. I'm not sure how much more I could get out of this frame even if I increased the exposure ten-fold. Effectively "all" the stars are already there and the SNR is quite good, so there isn't much to gain from spending a month exposing the cluster. Unless there's some faint nebulosity lurking in the darkness...