Antares/Rho Ophiuchus and Pipe

[christian.ckr]

Hey guys,

Took these the other night at Crago observatory, as for the Rho Ophiuchus region, it was my first attempt at this target.

First picture:
11x60 second exposures.
Canon 6D
24-70mm f2.8 @ 70mm f4 ISO 4000
Astrotrac TT320X-AG
Stacked in DSS and edited in CS6

I like how the colours turned out, I cant help but imagine how it would have turned out under darker skies:question:

The second is a panorama of 5 frames, 60 seconds each, same ISO but at 50mm. I think I captured too many stars as this was a little tricky to edit. I would love tips on how to reduce how many stars come out as it is a little overwhelming when you view it at full quality.

The third has the same data as the first.

Better quality at https://www.flickr.com/photos/christianckr/14194369079/

and https://www.flickr.com/photos/christianckr/14381284475/

finally https://www.flickr.com/photos/christianckr/14379974982/

Thanks for looking!:thanks:

[SimmoW]

Beautiful shots! Love this area, have yet to image

[jsmoraes]

Very good colors. Beautiful images.

[madwayne]

Sensational work Christian - well done and please keep them coming.

Wayne

[ourkind]

Absolute beauties Christian, thinking these are worthy of a post in the Deep Space images :thumbsup:

[rcheshire]

They are terrific, Christian. Nicely done.

[raymo]

Yes, beautiful, but I would have thought that the whole idea is that
space, and the sheer number of stars in it, IS overwhelming.
raymo

[graham.hobart]

Quite beautiful. Fantastic work , lovely mate, really lovely.
Graz
:thumbsup:

[ncorreia]

These are amazing! Do you normally shoot at around ISO 4000?

[christian.ckr]

Thankyou for the kind words! I have only recently tried longer exposures of the Milky Way using the astrotrac, I had almost 2 months of bad weather coupled with bad timing stopping me but I am pleasantly surprised at how the pictures turned out.

As for the ISO, I check the histogram on camera just to make sure the colours aren't clipped, but the 6D works well at 4000 ISO, it is a wonderful camera.

[Camelopardalis]

Beautiful wide field shot Christian, full of colour and detail :thumbsup:

[Rigel003]

Beautiful shots. Is it the canon 24 - 70?

[christian.ckr]

Yes Graeme it is, I just noticed the mistake in the original post and I fixed it up. It is the mk1 version with the metal body