Scorpius, Galactic Rift and Milky Way

[cazza132]

Just love this area of the sky! - Camera collecting photons while drinking beer with some rocking music out the middle of howdy nowhere with me, myself and I. Illumination provided by the Milky Way is the best light source to navigating around site after night vision acquired. A long way from day to day life!
Probably the most action packed region of the sky, Mars and Saturn were welcome guests to the party.
Canon 6D (full spectrum), Astronomik clip in 'L' filter + some data using a 12nm Ha clip in filter, Zeiss Sonnar APO 135mm f/2.0, Astrotrac.
This is a multipanel mosaic consisting of about 100 panels. ISO3200, f2.5 with shutter speeds 4x3s, 4x8s, 4x30s and 8x90s for each panel aligned using PT Gui for each sub in a panel, then again to align panels for overall mosaic.
Combined using Fitswork to expand the dynamic range. Flat frames and dark frames applied to each sub beforehand using Photoshop. The remaining processing (gradient correction, levels, colour, etc) done in Photoshop.
Rho Ophiuchus crop: https://www.flickr.com/photos/130830021@N02/33915679025/in/dateposted-public/

[DJT]

Oh wow, that is epic!

So much stuff to see. A beautiful image.:thumbsup:

[multiweb]

Awesome! :bowdown:

[JA]

Wonderful Image :thumbsup:

Best
JA

[el_draco]

Detail is stunning. One of the best shots of this area I've seen :thumbsup:

[Atmos]

That is spectacular Troy!

[gregbradley]

A remarkable effort, fabulous image and a great formula you have worked out.

Greg.

[Andy01]

Wow, very nice!
And this year's Malin award goes to...
(Methinks you're going to have to plan another roadtrip to Parkes :)

[Ryderscope]

That's an impressive project Troy and a great image result.

[Tony_]

Brilliant piece of work - looks like a lot of time has gone into this one.
Great result.

Tony.

[Peter Ward]

Has your fingerprints all over it....and of course is superb. :thumbsup:

[alocky]

The crop of Ophiucus was extraordinary, but the full scale is beyond any superlative I can come up with! The Ha really helps the nebulosity to pop, and you've set a new standard in image acquisition and processing.
This would print on a very large scale given the resolution of that lens and 100 panels, have you got any plans to put it up somewhere?
This should be in a museum or planetarium covering an entire wall!
Cheers
Andrew.

[Retrograde]

Wow - amazing work and big respect for what is obviously a huge undertaking. :thumbsup:

[alpal]

Hi Troy,
that's wonderful -
I wish the whole sky could be mapped like that.

cheers
Allan

[Camelopardalis]

That's a beauty, Troy well done :thumbsup:

[traveller]

Amazing image Troy, well done!
Bo

[troypiggo]

Boom - mic drop! Awesome!
:bowdown:

[Mighty_oz]

Fantastic image :)

[tel.lekatsas]

Stunning.

[cazza132]

Thanks for the kind words folks! :thanx: It is a large project that I've been working on for quite some time. I'm really happy with the way it's worked out.

Andrew - thanks! No plans at this stage, but would be honoured if I was asked by a museum or planetarium. Will probably print it large for home though.

Andy - thanks! I entered this one in the International Greenwich astro comp a few days ago, so probably won't enter this particular image in this year's DMAs. Although I have used new data, it has similarities to the 'Stellar Riches' one entered a couple of years ago.

[IanP]

Absolutely amazing !!!
Would you post higher res link :question:

[rustigsmed]

what I want to know is how you got it down to 183.4kbs! how large is the full image??!
awesome work as usual Troy.

[marc4darkskies]

A superb piece of work Troy! :thumbsup: Well done!

[batema]

Troy that is truely stunning. I live at Sippy Downs on the Sunshine Coast. Did you take this on the Sunshine Coast?

[Phil Hart]

This is epic *again* Troy. And i still can't believe that you manually align the frames on an AstroTrac..

:thumbsup:

Phil

[AG Hybrid]

That's amazing. Where is the full res version. I want to make it my desktop wall paper.

[topheart]

Absolutely beautiful!
Cheers,
Tim

[strongmanmike]

Raaaather speccy wide field Milky Way shot that Cazz :eyepop:

Not far to go to match Nick Risinger (http://www.flicamera.com/risinger/index.html) but while not as extensive, yours looks a little more detailed so far :thumbsup:

Mike

[RobF]

Whew. Tour de Force.
Love it!! :cheers:

[OzEclipse]

Spectacular and so much nebulosity, you know Scorpius is there somewhere, but where? :)

Joe

[Rod771]

Wow! Fantastic image, Troy! Well done! :thumbsup:

[markas]

Spectacular!

Mark

[Decimus]

I am truly gobsmacked, Troy. Just a magnificent image which is surely worthy of the highest accolades (and awards :)). The Rho Ophiuchi enlargement is equally dazzling. Congrats!

Cheers,
Richard

[cometcatcher]

Holy hydrogen alpha! That's amazing!

[Osirisra]

Wowzers, that is draw dropping. Hard work sure has paid off spectacularly.

[codemonkey]

Nailed it Troy, inspiring work!

[Stevec35]

Extremely well done! Love it!

Steve

[SimmoW]

'And the award for wringing the most out of modest equipment goes to.....'

Epic effort Trot!! (Well my spellchecker keeps saying you are named that TroY!)

[topheart]

What a great image.....

Magnificent !!
Block Buster!!
Awe inspiring!!

Congratulations,
Regards,
Tim

[cazza132]

Thanks again folks! :thanx:

There have been some requests for a higher res image. The original size is 15000 x 9906. I have entered a 3000 wide version into the International Greenwich astro comp. I'm not sure what the protocol is, but they don't like shortlisted images being made public, so I better not post anything larger than 3000 wide at this stage. :shrug: Will find out in 9 days whether it has made the cut.

Mike - thanks mate! Nick has done an amazing job with such a large project. His dedication is amazing! I have a long way to go with the 135mm Ziess, but I have covered much of the Milky Way, Orion and Ophiuchus.

batema - My main dark sky sites are Kilkivan, Glen Echo, Ballandean (Stanthorpe), Maclagan (near Bunya Mtns), and Jimna. Cambroon and Cooloolabin Dam are also quite good. We should catch up for astro sometime!

[strongmanmike]

..probably worth a few bob each way I recon ;)

I think you guys must have woke up one day and thought "hmmm?...now then...what should I image tonight?...:confuse3:...I know!!, I'll just image everything!" :lol:


Mike

[Paul Haese]

Lovely work Troy, excellent colour and saturation. Epic image. I take it some of this image was captured last year with Mars in the field there?

[Shiraz]

amazing image Troy - stunning.

[Striker]

Incredible Troy, love your work mate

[cazza132]

Thanks Paul, Shiraz and Striker.

Most of this image was taken while Saturn and Mars were hanging together. In fact, I gave this area of the sky a nudge several times while they were hanging out, but not enough to highlight the loops they made during their dance due to weather limitations and work.
Damn, I wish I had acreage on the west of the great dividing range! Maybe some day when I retire and set up a fast scope with a fat arse in a dome with a beer fridge and a bar. :D

[CapturingTheNight]

:jawdrop: Simply stunning Troy.....again. You are a true master with great dedication to your craft. Lots of work for sure.