The Constellation of Orion (inner)

[Octane]

Hi all,

This past weekend, I teamed up with Louie Atalasidis and a friend of mine, Greg, and headed to Zane Hammond's wonderful Magellan Observatory.

The weather was fairly kind to us.

Zane so graciously allowed me use of his toys.

After failing to re-image M45 due to not being able to send guide commands to the Takahashi EM-200 (didn't have the Takahashi to GPUSB cable), I used a Meade LXD55 mount and went for this target instead. Would you believe, 5-minute unguided exposures were possible without any evident trailing whatsoever? Amazing piece of kit. Cheap, too!

This is an image that was taken whilst I was trying to battle the freezing conditions. It was easily colder than Coonabarabran.

Read and view here (http://members.optusnet.com.au/mrozycka/Magellan_Observatory/Magellan_Observatory_20061118_Orion .html).

Comments and critique welcome.

Warning: file is approximately 1.47 MB in size.

Regards,
Humayun

[iceman]

Wow H, another truly stunning result from you.

[ronnierigel]

Lovely image Humuyan.

One question---any special tricks to get the diffracton spikes?

regards
ron

[Lester]

Top quality image Humayun.

IMO your images are always head turners.

Well done.

[middy]

As opposed to my images which are always stomach turners. :P :lol:

Great shot too by the way!!

[RB]

Yet another stunner mate, well done.
I absolutely love this part of the sky.

:)

[h0ughy]

WOW, barnards loop, darth vaders mask (lower left, looks like it if you look at the shape of the stars, Ok I failed my ink blot tests), the flame and horsehead, I am awestruck. Fantastic imaging and on a LXD55 mount, was it already polar aligned? or did you borrow it?

[ving]

i had no idea there waqs nebula near rigel!

great shot H. :D

[middy]

IC 2118, Witch's Head Nebula

[ving]

ah yes, i have heard of that one, just didnt know where it was :rolleyes:
silly me.

[davidpretorius]

top call that and spot on too!

WOW!:thumbsup:

[sheeny]

Stunning image, H!:thumbsup: Very impressive.

Al.

[Rodstar]

Great stuff, H! I love anything widefield, and to see the Horsehead, Flame Neb, M42, Running man etc all in perspective is truly breathtaking.

[seeker372011]

and Barnard's loop and the witches head.....wow!!!

another one for printing out as an A3 image :)

[atalas]

Nice shot H ! the field is packed with objects .

[Octane]

Mike,

Cheers for the kind words.

Regards,
H

[Octane]

Ron,

Thanks!

The diffraction spikes are a result of the lens diaphragm. The more you stop the lens down, the less you get, I believe.

Regards,
Humayun

[Octane]

Lester,

Thank you. I'm glad you like it.

Regards,
Humayun

[Octane]

middy,

You should see my first shots. They were stomach turners!

Thanks!

Regards,
Humayun

[Octane]

Andrew,

Cheers, dude!

It is a gorgeous portion, that's for sure.

Regards,
Humayun

[Octane]

David,

lol @ Darth Vader's mask. I can see it clearly!

As mentioned on the phone today, the mount was already polar aligned in the roll-off roof observatory. Zane has some really nice toys.

Regards,
Humayun

[Octane]

David,

Thanks!

Regards,
Humayun

[Octane]

middy,

Also known as NGC 1909!

Regards,
Humayun

[Octane]

David,

I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Regards,
Humayun

[Octane]

Al,

Thanks, mate!

Regards,
Humayun

[Octane]

Rod,

Thanks for the kind words.

It is an amazing part of the sky. It just makes you wonder why those stars are in that particular formation, and, why it just so happens that there's a treasure trove of intricate and delicate objects spread throughout.

Ah, Orion, I love you.

Regards,
Humayun

[Octane]

Narayan,

Thanks, mate!

I'm pretty stoked to have picked up Barnard's Loop considering it's an unmodified camera.

Regards,
Humayun

[Octane]

Louie,

Thanks, mate. :)

Regards,
Humayun