The Great Carina Nebula
The Great Carina Nebula - Click to Zoom
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About: A widefield image of the mighty Carina Nebula and home to the massive Eta Carinae star system. Four times larger and brighter than even the Orion Nebula, surely this is the jewel in the southern hemisphere. This image is an HDR shot at five different exposures, but I have trouble keeping the stars from blowing out - so many of them in this region. I'll need to work on it a bit more. This image was taken whilst I was on a field trip to Lake Ballard in Western Australia through a Canon 70-200mm lens on my NEQ6 mount. Details: | ||||
The Ghost of Rigel
The Ghost of Rigel - Click to Zoom
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About: This image shot with a standard Canon EOS6D is of the faint reflection nebula IC 2118 (also known as the Witch Head Nebula, if one looks at this image rotated clockwise a bit). It haunts the nearby bright star Rigel, a supergiant star forming part of the Orion constellation. Method: This image was taken whilst I was on a field trip to Lake Ballard in Western Australia through a Canon 70-200mm lens on my NEQ6 mount. The night was quite warm (27 degrees), so the sensor noise on my uncooled camera was terrible on the unprocessed images. But, a bit of stacking and noise reduction cleaned it up enough to be presentable. Details: | ||||
The Small Magellanic Clouds
The Small Magellanic Cloud - Click to Zoom
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About: A quick image of the Small Magellanic Clouds. Details:
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Magellan's Pet Tarantula
Magellan's Pet Tarantula - Click to Zoom
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About: An HDR image of a portion of the Large Magellanic Clouds, a satellite galaxy of our Milkyway, shot through my telescope last weekend. The big cyan nebula slightly to the right of center is the Tarantula nebula. Considering the size compared to the irregual dwarf galaxy its a part of, its absolutely massive. Details: | ||||
The Fornax Galaxy Cluster
The Fornax Galaxy Cluster - Click to Zoom
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About: My humble attempt at imaging the fantastic Fornax Galaxy Cluster with my stock DSLR. Count the galaxies (most of them are round blobs, but the spiral at the bottom left is the pretty obvious galaxy IC1365). With a warm 28 degrees the noise in the raw images was horrific, and my effort to image as many targets in the one night meant that I had no where near the amount of light frames as required. However, after a liberal dash of noise reduction the image polished up enough to be, well, a so-so image. Details: | ||||
The Horsehead Nebula - Ledge Point Edition
The Horsehead Nebula - Ledge Point Edition - Click to Zoom
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About: My second attempt at the famous Horsehead Nebula (and other miscellaneous astro objects :). Taken near Ledge Point, Western Australia. This shot was with an unmodified stock Canon EOS6D DSLR in the warm southern hemisphere nights - I love to push the equipment as far as it can go. However, being impatient, this is an HDR but only with 3 stacked lights per HDR exposure: 3 x 148sec, 3 x 300sec, 3 x 600sec. To do the job properly I need more lights - but I'll soon have time over Christmas to do the job properly. Details: | ||||
Nebulae of September 2016
Nebulae of September 2016 - Click to Zoom
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About: All six nebulae were imaged on the one night session on 1st September 2016. Well...astrophotography isn't a race, so six targets is actually not so good - usually I only do up to two, but quantity beat out quality in this session. The large wide field image of the Milkyway galaxy was done in July 2016. So, anyway I've composed all the images into one - and shown where they are in the night sky with reference to the bright Milkyway, for those who are interested or are otherwise unsure about where they lie in relation to each other. Some of these nebulae can typically be viewed with binoculars under dark skies (albeit a lot smaller), although to me they appear to be dull grey smudges. All images of nebulae were made using a Skywatcher Esprit 120ED and Canon EOS6D (unmodified).
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The Cat's Paw Nebula
The Cat's Paw Nebula - Click to Zoom
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About: NGC6334, the Cat's Paw Nebula. So name because, well obviously, it looks like a cat's paw print. I probably need longer exposures and more stacked images for this one. Details: | ||||
The Swan of Night
The Swan of Night - Click to Zoom
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About: Messier 17, the Omega Nebula, also known as the Swan Nebula. With time and perseverance, it is possible to reveal some beautiful colours with this one, but I grabbed only a quick stack of exposures - 3 x 5min, 3 x 2min, and 3 x 1min, racing against the dew which was condensing on the outside of my telescope. I've included a cropped image of the nebula, as my original wider field shot at prime zoom has the Swan somewhat lost in dark waters of space.... Details: | ||||
The Night Eagle
The Night Eagle - Click to Zoom
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About: A cropped image of my shot of the M16 Eagle Nebula. This nebula is famous for the "pillars of creation" image made by the Hubble telescope of the unusual pilliar-like nebula formations (which appears pretty small in the center of my image, I shot at prime focus which doesn't give me a great deal of mangification). Method: This in an HDR stack of exposures - 3 x 5min, 3 x 2min, and 3 x 1min, racing against the dew which was condensing on the outside of my telescope. Details: | ||||
The Trifid
The Trifid - Click to Zoom
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About: The Trifid Nebula, Messier 20. This nebula is readily identifable due to the trifurcated appearance of dark nebula "spokes" in the red emission nebula. Method: This in an HDR stack of exposures - 3 x 5min, 3 x 2min, and 3 x 1min. I decided not to crop the image to zoom in on the nebula - to hide the fact that in one of the frames there is a noticable drift in some of the stars - this is one, but definitely not the only, reason for taking more than 3 shots for stacking. Details: | ||||
Antares Storm
Antares Storm - Click to Zoom
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About: The fifteenth brightest star in the nights sky, the reddish super-giant Antares is surrounded by a large reflection nebula, appearing as a cloud in this image. Method: I had imaged this star as a test prior to starting my imaging session of deep sky nebulas, hence only took a set of 3 x 5min exposures to check my focus and tracking. Too bad, I kind of liked how this turned out... Details: | ||||
The Lagoon by Starlight
The Lagoon by Starlight - Click to Zoom
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About: A close up High Dynamic Range shot of Messier 8, the Lagoon Nebula. This image was included in part of my wide field shot along with the Trifid nebula that I have published below, but I couldn't help but post a more intimate view of this fantastic nebula. The globular cluster NGC6544 makes a show in the top left corner. Method: This image is an HDR of multiple stacked exposures, 3 x 5min, 3 x 2min, and 3 x 1min. Details: | ||||
The Flowers of Sagittarius
The Flowers of Sagittarius - Click to Zoom
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About: In the constellation of Sagittarius grow two beautiful deep sky "flowers", the Lagoon Nebula (designation Messier 8) and the Trifid Nebula (designation Messier 20). These are wonderfully bright nebulas and can make spectacular images, even for second rate amateurs like me. Taken near Ledge Point, Western Australia 1st September 2016, this was the first clear night in three months that lined up with me being available to take my telescope out. Boy was I out of practice...glad to get back into it. Usually I would take way more photos for stacking (3 is the absolute minimum) but as clear skies have been rare in WA recently I wanted to shoot as many targets as possible (quantity vs quality). I managed to do six nebulas and Antares in the one session before dew finally ended my session. I'll post these over the next few days. Method: This image is made up of two "panels", each panel an HDR of multiple stacked exposures, 3 x 5min, 3 x 2min, and 3 x 1min - primarily to ensure that the bright core of the Lagoon nebula was not too overexposed. Each exposure was first RAW processed and stacked using Adobe Photoshop, then I used PTGui to perform HDR tone mapping and stitching the two panels together. Post-processing was then performed back in Photoshop, where brightness, contrast, levels, sharpening, noise filtering and saturation were adjusted.
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The Field of Ophiuchi
The Field of Ophiuchi - Click to Zoom
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About: Spoilt somewhat by the dew building up on the lens (the faint streaks on the brightest stars are from me wiping the dew off just prior to the shot), this is one last shot of the Rho Ophiuchi region to one side of the milkyway. I was hoping to do an HDR image of this, but the longer exposures were all foggy from dew. Oh well...the stars aren't going anywhere soon - next time... Details:
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The Mote in God's Eye
The Mote in God's Eye - Click to Zoom
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About: If the picture title reminds you of a science fiction book, then you're showing your age... A High Dynamic Range (HDR) image of the core of our galaxy, the Milky Way. The pink mote is the Lagoon Nebula, with the pink and blue Triffid Nebula just next to it. Method: This image is an HDR of multiple stacked exposures of 3 x 5min, 5 x 90sec, 5 x 30sec and 5 x 10sec. Each exposure was first RAW processed and stacked using Adobe Photoshop, then I used Photomatix Pro to perform HDR tone mapping. Post-processing was then performed back in Photoshop, where brightness, contrast, levels, and saturation were adjusted. Details:
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The Colours of Rho Ophiuchi
The Colours of Rho Ophiuchi - Click to Zoom
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About: A High Dynamic Range (HDR) image of the amazing colours of the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex / region. This region is definitely a favourite of most amateur astrophotographers - its bright, easy to find, and doesn't require a telescope (this image was shot with a 200mm canon lens). Whilst great for beginners, intermediate experienced astrophotographers should try and reveal more of the harder dark clouds / filaments of the "tail" which are more difficult to reveal. For me, this image needs some re-work - I tried to bring out the darker clouds but unfortunately saturated somewhat the smaller stars... Method: This image an HDR of multiple stacked exposures of 3 x 10min, 5 x 5min, 5 x 90sec, 5 x 30sec and 5 x 10sec. Each exposure was first RAW processed and stacked using Adobe Photoshop, then I used Photomatrix Pro to perform HDR tone mapping. Post-processing was then performed back in Photoshop, where brightness, contrast, levels, sharpening, noise filtering and saturation were adjusted. Details: | ||||
The Core Beckons
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About: A High Dynamic Range (HDR) image of the core of our galaxy, the Milky Way. The core burns with furious intensity, but is shrouded in dark clouds. Embedded in the darkness, like jewels in a ring, are many pink and red nebulas. And what's this!?...close to the right edge looking like an unusual green "star" is in fact a comet - C/2013 X1 Panstarrs I think, which at the moment is roughly at 6th magnitude in brightness. If you zoom up close to it you can just see the faint grey tail. Details: |
Method: This image is a stitch of 5 panels, each panel being an HDR of multiple stacked exposures of 3 x 5min, 5 x 90sec, 5 x 30sec and 5 x 10sec. Each exposure was first RAW processed and stacked using Adobe Photoshop, then I used PTGui to stitch them and perform HDR tone mapping. Post-processing was then performed back in Photoshop, where brightness, contrast, levels, and saturation were adjusted.
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Jellyfish of the Deep Sky
Jellyfish of the Deep Sky - Click to Zoom
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About: This is my image of the "Jellyfish" Nebula (IC 443) taken a couple of nights ago. This gelatinous zooplankton looking nebula is roughly 5000ly from Earth as a result of a supernova explosion some odd few thousand years ago. A bit of a fainter target, especially with an unmodified DSLR camera - I probably should've gone for a longer exposure. this image was a stack of 11 light frames, ISO1600 of 5 minutes each. Details:
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Rose of Heaven
Rose of Heaven - Click to Zoom
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About: This is my image of the Rosette Nebula taken a couple of nights ago. This nebula is around 5000ly from earth, and is a haven for new born stars. Whilst the cluster of stars is easily visible with binoculars, the nebula itself can only be viewed with long exposure photography. Method: This image is stacked using 12 subs, 21 dark frames, and 21 bias frames. Dew was a major issue being a hot humid night so I had to be quick. I managed to get some other targets in this night but they were all a bit "foggy". Time to by some dew heaters me thinks... Details: | ||||
Orion Re-born
Orion Re-born - Click to Zoom
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About: With all the great photos of the great Orion Nebula being posted recently, this humble effort of mine seems a bit redundant. However, probably what sets this apart (a little) is being able to reveal the darker dust clouds around the nebula despite the fact that all the images were taken with an unmodified DSLR. It took a fair bit of processing (which is why it may seem a bit over-done), and you can see at the top and bottom left the bias noise sneaking through even though I used bias frames during stacking - pretty much stretched it to the max. Method: Anyhow, enough boasting, this images was taken from the semi-dark skies near Gingin, Western Australia and shows off the M42 Orion Nebula and the adjacent "Running Man" nebula. It consists of a stack of 12 x light frames (ISO3200 for 300 seconds to expose the majority of the nebula), 6 x light frames (ISO1600 for 13 seconds to expose the core of the nebula), and 20 x bias frames. I couldn't be bothered with dark frames this night. All images shot through a Skywatcher 120ED Esprit Apo refractor telescope. Once stacked I combined the different exposures with Photomatix Pro which didn't do a great job, so I did some layer masks in Photoshop to improve it. Then a crap load of noise filtering on the darker regions and sharpening of the bright nebulas.
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The Hunter Revealed
The Hunter Revealed - Click to Zoom
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About: There can't be many people who don't recognize the great contellation of Orion (the Hunter). With its bright stars, the blue-white super-giant Rigel, and the red super-giant Betelgeuse, the jewel that is the Orion nebula (M42), and much loved horsehead nebula (IC434), and the faint sweeping red nebula of Barnard's Loop (the barely visible arc at the top half of this image). Alas, with my DSLR unmodified (i.e. still has its IR filter), some of the deep red of Barnard's loop is hidden...but most of this mighty constellation is now revealed in this image. Method: Taken with a stock standard Canon EOS6D and 85mm f/1.2 prime lens - piddy-backing on my telescope, this is a stacked image of 7 shots at ISO3200 for 118 second exposure time. The raw shots were starting to wash-out with the moon half full rising over the horizon, but a bit of post-processed got rid of most of it to reveal a colourful wide-field view of the Orion constellation. Details: | ||||
Pleiades Blues
Pleiades Blues - Click to Zoom
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About: Been meaning to image this one for a while, but its taken a bit of effort to get my skills (and equipment) up to scratch, as this one's a bit of a harder target - at least in my mind. Taken last night at Gingin, Western Australia, in between high level clouds and distant lightning storms (which fortunately stayed at a distance, but periodically lit up the clear night sky).
M45 Pleiades (or the Seven Sisters) is an open star cluster containing hot B-type stars, and is easily spotted with the naked eyes. The luminous nebula are dust clouds which were once thought to be related to cluster but are actually unrelated interstellar medium (well, thats what Wikipedia says...). Method: This is a stacked image of 5 x light frames of 10 minutes each at ISO3200 using an unmodified Canon EOS6D. Image was shot through a Skywatcher 120ED Esprit refractor. Details: | ||||
Tarantula of Magellan
The Tarantula of Magellan - Click to Zoom
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About: The Tarantula Nebula (located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, itself a nearby satellite galaxy of our Milkyway), as seen through my 120mm refractor telescope. According to Wikipedia, the Tarantula nebula is so bright that if it was as close to Earth as the Orion Nebula (1500 light years), it would cast shadows. I'm sure it casts shadows regardless - just drowned out by near infinite number of brighter light sources. There is a compact star cluster at the center of the nebula that powers most of the light that makes the nebula visible. And, unlike other nebula, this one you can sort of see the creature of its namesake...in this case, the spider... Method: This one was stacked with the absolute minimum number of frames - three. Why so few - because I was in a rush that's why :) Anyhow, the noise was at a reasonable level, so all good in the end. Details: | ||||
The Horsehead Nebula
The Horsehead Nebula - Click to Zoom
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About: My best attempt so far, just had the focus a little off but otherwise not too bad if I do say so myself. With the aperture on my telescope this took a fair bit of stretching to get it bright.
The Horsehead nebula is a dark nebula located just south of the star Alnitak on the belt of the constellation Orion. It is around 1500 light years from Earth, almost a stone throw away :) Method: Taken through by 120mm refractor with a unmodified Canon EOS6D, this image is composed of a stack of 7 x 300 second exposures. My first attempt at processing revealed a fair bit of camera bias in the raw image when I brightened the image (seen as faint streaking), which I removed mostly with DeepSkyStackers bias offset functionality. Details: | ||||
The Great Carina Nebula
The Great Carina Nebula - Click to Zoom
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About: My first session with my telescope for 2016 (and for a couple months), so I decided to pick an "easy" target (easy because it is bright and relatively simple to find and photograph). This image was taken from the dark skies of Namming Nature Reserve, Western Australia.
The Great Nebula in Carina is one of the largest diffuse nebulae in the night sky, and is four times larger and also brighter than the mighty Orion Nebula. It also contains the high luminous hyper-giant star Eta Carinae (100-150 times the mass of our Sun, and four million times as bright), the Homunculus nebula, the Keyhole nebula, and the Mystic Mountain (a dust-gas pillar made famous in a Hubble image). Method: This image was a quick stack of only 8 images with an unmodified Canon EOS6D through a Skywatcher 120mm apo telescope. I would've like to do more, but I had the moon rising and I needed to be quick. Details: | ||||
