Wide-field sky-scapes of Orion and Vela nebulosity

[MLParkinson]

The constellations of Orion (the “Saucepan”) and Vela recorded from suburban Sydney, New South Wales. Visually, the night sky would be even more spectacular if our night vision retained sensitivity to deep red light, and we also had eyes the size of a giant squid.

https://flic.kr/p/JFgKrD

https://flic.kr/p/JFgJNK

Cooled Canon Astro 50D camera, ISO 1600, EF 100 mm f/2 USM lens set at f/4.0, and Astronomik 12-nanometre Hydrogen alpha and Oxygen III filters. Raw images consisted of about 42 x 10-minute exposures per filter.

[gregbradley]

Wow, nice work. Love it.

Greg.

[Atmos]

Showing a lot of the faint Nebulosity quite well, nice shots :)

[RobF]

Great work Murray. Thanks for sharing.

[MLParkinson]

Thank you for your kind words. Producing wide-field narrow band images of this kind from suburban Sydney (or anywhere) is hard work. I wouldn’t recommend the equipment combination I used for this kind of imaging. The bit depth in the raw images was poor, and the light pollution gradients were horrendous, especially in the OIII channel. I would prefer to use a CCD camera and narrower narrow-band filters any day.

[skysurfer]

That is amazing ! The only comment I hace is that the orange should be red which is more 'natural' Halpha color.
But it is indeed hard work !
Gradients are very bad in light polluted areas, particularly in widefields.

Next challenge for TO: Simeis 147 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simeis_147) on the Taurus-Auriga border. Three degrees across. Not high in the sky, but high enough on the latitude of Sydney.

[Andy01]

Nice Murray - love your original interpretation of Vela SNR, well done! :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[SimmoW]

Loving both of these! Great fov. Yes maybe a little redder next time

[RickS]

That's amazing, Murray!

[Ryderscope]

Good on you Murray. A great project.

[MLParkinson]

The great thing about this online group is that everyone is so positive and supportive, even when people post images that are second rate. Most of us eventually figure out how to produce better images by studying the posts of the very best photographers. In my humble opinion, the current show piece image is Michael Sidonio’s latest rendition of the Seagull Nebula. There is a lot to emulate in that image. First though, I need to retire and set up camp somewhere away from all of the city lights.

[blink138]

hi murray really great shots................. did you use the clip in filters for the narrowband?
pat

[MLParkinson]

Yes Pat, I used the Astronomik 12-nm clip in filters.

[Ross G]

Two great looking widefield photos Murray.

Amazing detail and so sharp.


Ross.

[multiweb]

Terrific deep and detailed wide fields. Looks first grade to me. :thumbsup: