The Pleiades (M45) in Taurus

[Octane]

Hi all,

Last weekend, Louie Atalasidis and I drove up to Coonabarabran.

We went and had a peek at the Siding Springs observatory but, unfortunately didn't realise that on the weekends the tours or what have you close by 2 PM. That dome is massive considering it's a 3.9m diameter telescope. I can only imagine how big the domes/buildings are for bigger telescopes.

Instead, we drove down to the Skywatcher Observatory and met Gary and Merryl and enjoyed a lunch there.

Amongst relaxation, enjoying the incredibly black skies, as well as observing at least a meteor per minute during the Orionids, we both did some imaging, too.

Here is one of those images.

Taken at Coonabarabran.

Read and view here (http://members.optusnet.com.au/mrozycka/Coonabarabran/Coonabarabran_20061022_Pleiades.htm l).

Comments and critique welcome.

Warning: file is approximately 1.1 MB in size.

Regards,
Humayun

[iceman]

Stunning image, H! Say hi to Louie next time you catch up, I miss him!

Beautiful M45, one of the best i've seen here.

[spearo]

Very nice, sharp focus and great nebulosity.
those ED80 do a great job! (in good hands of course)
cheers
frank

[Lester]

Excellent image Humayun.

[Garyh]

Nice and deep Humayun...great work like all your shots!!!!
Cheers Gary

[Octane]

Mike: Thanks for the kind words. I'll say hello from you the next time I catch up with him.

Frank: I think the ED80 is the best purchase I've ever made. Not only does it perform great (except for the coma, of course) for the money, it's a great scope to scope out the sky, too.

Lester: Thanks. :)

Gary: Thanks for the compliment. :)

Regards,
Humayun

[Ric]

Hi Humayun, WOW :eyepop: thats stunning.

Top stuff

[rogerg]

Very nice capture of nebulosity for a DSLR. I'm very keen to give M45 a shot with my 350D but haven't had a chance yet.

I find the spikes on the stars a little too strong and distracting, but that's a personal thing.

Roger.

[[1ponders]]

Nice nebulosity and depth Narayan, very nice :thumbsup: Not a big fan of the spikes either, too many of them. Are they produced by cross wire or with PS?

Say g'day to Louie from me as well. :hi:

[Octane]

Ric: Thanks!

Roger: I had to do a fair amount of processing to bring the nebulosity out. Louie's version with his SXV-H9C was a stunner. He doesn't have to take darks or flats, the lucky bugger.

Paul: I'm not Narayan! :) Although, Narayan did a stunning M45 earlier this year. That was the impetus for me to do this. The diffraction spikes were created with 30-pound fishing line. I don't think many people like them and I'm not entirely sure why. I can't get enough of them -- they look classical, divine and elegant! I'll pass on your hello to Louie as well.

Regards,
Humayun

[[1ponders]]

:lol: Sorry h0ughy..oops...Harry....Damn...Huma yan. :ashamed: Teach me to try to do more than one thing at a time. :lol:

Maybe try a finer line ;)

[sheeny]

Excellent image Humayun!:thumbsup: :eyepop: That's one of the best photos of the nebulosity in M45 that I've seen. I like the diffraction spikes, especially he rainbows in them, but like Paul I did notice how thick they were.

Stunning!

Al.

[Octane]

Paul: You're getting closer; it's Humayun. :P I think I will look into using thinner line, and try it out next month.

Al: That's a compliment and-a-half. Thank you. :)

Regards,
Humayun

[atalas]

H,nice work on the Pleiades dude ! much detail,good colour and over all well processed.
A great result on your first serious DSO and with a unmoded DSLR too !

Just goes to show that good data,plenty of exposure time and a good understanding post processing (with PS) will get you stunning results.

Oh yes ...thanks for your very pleasant company over the last weekend and hope we get up to Coona next month as well.

A big hello to all my old freinds from IIS too, I miss you all ! :thumbsup:

[[1ponders]]

Hey Hey!!! G'day Louie! Great to see you drop by. :hi: I won't spam Humayun's thread, but how are ya goin'.

Sorry about the spellin' H. but some day I'm more dyslexic than others. :screwy:

[RB]

G'day Louie.

:gday:

[h0ughy]

WOW, what an amazing bunch of pixels!!! well done. Hi Louie, how that back of yours mate?

[seeker372011]

nice shot humayun, i was quite willing to take the credit for it :)

not a big fan of the spikes myself though, but that's just a personal thing..

I think the harder bit to capture is the reddish brown nebulosity around the Merope /Tempel Nebula region, which many shots of M45 fail to capture (including mine ), but is very obvious in your image..the dark skies of Coona paid off I guess

and hi there louie ;)
narayan

[richardo]

Hi Humayan,
very nicely done indeed!!
I do like spikes, but perhaps use some lighter fishing line... a wee tad too thick... jimo of course :)
I like the way you've managed to bring out the faint nebulosity, not an easy thing with such a faint object and using a dslr.
It could have done with another 10 sub images.... but as always with this hobby, time/ weather is a factor and sleep as well.
Very nicely done all the same!!
I enjoyed reading your post and would one day love to visit the setup at Stromelo. But that's for a day a long way down the track ...

Cheers for now
Rich

[Octane]

Louie: Oi! What are you doing here? Nice surprise! Thanks for the heads up.

Paul: It's quite OK; I've been called everything under the sun. A single letter misplaced doesn't bother me. :P

David: Thanks. :)

Narayan: Thanks for the compliment. I'm starting to let go of my inhibitions and becoming a lot more freeform in Photoshop. It has helped a lot. I am only just starting to realise the potential and power of this most wonderful application.

Rich: Thanks for the kind words. I'm going to reshoot this next month and gather a whole heap more data. I had actually gathered close to two hours of data, however, had a lot of issues with autoguiding and wind which ruined half the exposures. I'm also going to use guitar wire or something else to give me finer spikes. I don't want to get rid of them as I like them. :P

Regards,
Humayun

[[1ponders]]

You mean I've been trying my best to get rid of that from my shots and sacrificing blue nebulosity and it's supposed to be there? :tasdevil:

[acropolite]

Lovely shot Humayan, I notice the ED80 was Piggybacked on the LX, shows that there's quite reasonable guiding capability with an Alt-Az mount if you persevere.

[Octane]

Hi Phil,

Thanks for the compliment.

I'm actually polar-mounted because I use the equatorial wedge. The pain that it is, it does work. :)

Regards,
Humayun

[ving]

hi humayun, louie and narayan :)
hows it going fellas.

great shot humayun, looks almost like an oil painting on my monitor.

[seeker372011]

guys you should check out louie's stupendous image of the rosette over at Cloudy nights

oops sorry to hijack humayun's thread:ashamed:

[Octane]

David: Hello, and thanks! Well, most celestial objects do look like cosmic oil spills. :)

Narayan: I saw his raw data on the night, it looked astounding. I'll hop on over and have another look.

Regards,
Humayun

[davidpretorius]

Well Hoctanious, you are world class in your DSO stuff!

I did some observing last night and then got my little set of binoculars out and lay back in a chair looking at m45.

You have captured it beautifully!

[strongmanmike]

Octan, this is a lovely image and you have done everything very well in the processing, well done!

I also like diffraction spikes but I think they deffinitely over power the image in this case. Try plain black sewing cotton thread.

Just in case you are wondering, I did not post Alan's M45 to detract from your image. I hadn't even seen yours before I posted Alan's.

Mike

Mike

[Octane]

David,

Thank you so much. Your compliments are always so kind.

Most appreciated.

Regards,
Humayun

[Octane]

Hi Mike,

Always great getting praise from you. Most appreciated.

I've taken your advice and have removed the 30-pound fishing wire and attached thin black cotton thread instead.

I was shooting the Al-nitak region last night and the difference is immense. I got very thin and crisp diffraction spikes which are a whole lot more aesthetically pleasing. I could pass off as owning an RCOS truss tube. :P

No worries with regards to posting Alan's stupendous work. I have fallen in love with his work since Louie showed me.

Regards,
Humayun

[EzyStyles]

that is one of the best M45 i have seen from a 350d unmodded! well done mate ;)

[Octane]

Eric,

You're far too kind. :)

Thanks, mate.

Regards,
Humayun