Barnards ghost surrounded by gold (finally the clouds part)

[strongmanmike]

Well, you wouldn't believe it, hang on...let me just pinch myself..ouch...yep it's real :)...I actually managed to collect an entire image data set last night :cool:...:rolleyes:

After arriving at the observatory around 10pm, it took until bloody midnight :scared: for the bloody clouds to roll away but man, I was there waiting :mad2:

After the Moon set, I spent some time collecting for my longer project before it got too low and then with a pristine steady sky above just begging for some attention and a beautiful Milky Way half way up the sky...I decided on something subtle but beautiful and bright and that I could get a full colour image of before I left.

This is the dark hole known as Barnard 86 accompanied by the open star cluster NGC 6520 embedded in 100,000's of stars in the Milky Way...I got my desperately needed imaging hit :nerd:

I finished off in the cold crisp morning witnessing a glorious display of Zodiacal Light, a lovely triangular tapering beam that stretched to almost overhead :eyepop:...needless to say, I drove home happy :)

Barnard's Ghost (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/159878723/original)

How many planets are in this frame I wonder?...Tell me there ain't any life out amongst all that :shrug:

[cometcatcher]

Like grains of sand... Beautiful image Mike. A cluster near dark nebula. There's still stars behind that nebula right? Just that their light doesn't get through. It must be very dense.

For all we know life in the universe may be abundant, yet distance keeps us apart.

[Placidus]

Beautiful, subtle colour. A treat. Lots happening there - the dark nebula acting as the "before" shot, and the cluster as the "after". The few red giants add greatly to the the young blue-white cluster.

[RickS]

Glad you got your fix, Mike. The adapter for the AP140 is on the way and 200mm of rain is forecast. Coincidence? I think not...

The little dark blob contrasts very nicely with the cluster and star clouds :thumbsup:

Cheers,
Rick.

[Paul Haese]

Colour looks good Mike. It's nice to have a couple of objects in the one image. Star fields can sometimes be dull but with some dark nebula and a cluster the field takes on a new dimension.

[strongmanmike]

Cheers guys, sorry for the blurb about my night, hey, you know how it is..just need someone, anyone :sad: ..to share the fickle and frustrating nature of our hobby with :D :lol:

Oh and yeah, thaaanks Rick :rolleyes: :mad2:...and I think getting anything AP makes the weather even worse :scared:

Mike

[gregbradley]

Wonderful image. Your stars look fantastic and such great resolution down to tiny ones.

I was out imaging all last night as well with the Honders even though I really need a couple of adapters that are on the way (aren't all adapters on the way?). That's 2 nights out of 4 and hopefully again tonight. Here it was solid overcast until about 9pm and then it was crystal clear horizon to horizon. It blows me away when it does that here (it does it often thankfully).

Greg.

[Camelopardalis]

Love it Mike, well done :thumbsup:

It's almost unfathomable to think of the number of worlds in there...

[stevous67]

Yup, its definitely a good astro fix that should tie you over till next new moon?!?!?! Well, nearly perhaps. Nothing wrong sharing the accumulating pressure build up that happens between imaging sessions, especially when weather has been so unkind for sooo long.

Cheers Mike,

Steve

[multiweb]

Nice framing. Great star colours. :thumbsup:

[Slawomir]

Great image, thank you for sharing Mike. Looking at it reminded me of an old quote from a fellow astronomer from a relatively distant past. I looked it up and here it is:

To consider the Earth as the only populated world in infinite space is as absurd as to assert that in an entire field sown with millet, only one grain will grow.

— Metrodorus of Chios, 4th century BCE.

As for the astro gear and weather, I propose objective investigation into these matters.
Independent variable: New astro gear
Dependent variable(s): Rain, wind and hail...

[TR]

Nice image Mike. Clear, no moon, and reasonable seeing. Just how any animals did you have to offer the astro gods to get that combination?

Terry

[RobF]

Good work getting an image for the night Mike.
Coming days/nights looking deciding sad again for SE Qld now. :sadeyes:

[vlazg]

Great image....:)

I think life is abundant, the number of habitable planets must be enormous, but, the chances of a concurrent civilisation i think will be quite low if you consider how long it took, and the incredible odds against us reaching a point when we can look away from Earth, and how much longer we will exist as a species.

[h0ughy]

I appreciate the Alien taking the image ;)

great sandy shot

[strongmanmike]

Thanks heaps guys, do appreciate the comments and understanding of my fast deteriorating patience :tasdevil: :lol:...I always say, well it could be worse, like other planets we could have several moons, now that would be truly unbearable :eyepop:

Mike

[Rod771]

Nice image Mike! :thumbsup:

Finally got some clear conditions over the last couple days up our way, which was nice for a change.

Next time take your DSLR with you to get a nice shot of the zodiacal light. :)

[strongmanmike]

Exactly what I was thinking at the time Rod, doh! :)

Mike

[Leonardo70]

Hey mike this is my favourite pair of objects ... i tried from Alps ... i retry this summer for sure ...

Great image .. the Ink spot ...

All the best,
Leo

[tilbrook@rbe.ne]

Beautiful Mike!:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Nice to zoom in on the large image and see the multitude nicely resolved stars.

Cheers,

Justin.

[strongmanmike]

Grazie Leo :thumbsup: and on ya Justin :thumbsup:

MIke

[andyc]

Lovely picture and nice colour as ever. And you're right, so many stars! Sounds like it was a good night all round too

[SkyViking]

Very nice image Mike! Barnard 86 is such a distinct feature and that golden background of innumerable stars sure tickles the imagination!
I recall roughly estimating around 1 million stars present in my earlier image of B86. Btw, just outside your FOV lies one of the more obscure globulars, Djorg 2 :)

[strongmanmike]

Sure was, bit short since it started round midnight but seeing the bright detailed Milky Way stretch directly over my head from horizon to horizon with that searchlight like zodiacal light was beautiful :)



That's a lot of stars Rolf..I gave up at 32 :P

Mike

[Stevec35]

Nice one Mike. It's interesting to compare your image of B86 with David Malin's image of it with the AAT which was one of his signature items. Your's is significantly better which shows you how far we have come.

Cheers

Steve

[strongmanmike]

David who..? :question:

:P

[Ross G]

A beautiful photo Mike.

I love the colours and contrasts.

Great to see a "true colour" photo!

Ross.

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Rosco, something special about a field completely full of stars huh? :)

Mike

[marco]

Love this area Mike and it is nice to see it at high resolution! As usual excellent color process, I would have added a bit of luminance to improve the visibility of the inkspot periphery, but there is always time for that ;)
Ciao
Marco

[stevous67]

:lol::rofl::rofl::rofl::lol:

[jase]

Noice Mike! The cluster really pops with great contrast of the golden background. Enjoyed the view very much.

[strongmanmike]

Grazie Marco Polo and ahhh yes :whistle:... for some reason, I tried focusing during the first frame integration of a frame capture sequence, only to discover later that doing so caused every subsequent saved sub frame to be that of the first sub only :doh::doh: :lol: (may as well laugh). So, I should have had 45min of lum too buuut se la vi, I settled with just RGB :mad2: :P



Completely facetious remark of course :nerd:



Cheers Jase, as Marco suggests some Lum would have helped I recon...oh and hello mate :hi:

Mike