Sharpless 2-1 and Vdb99 in Scorpius

[strongmanmike]

Another winter gem but not often imaged, this fabulous colourful red and blue bit of sky is located in one of the claws of Scorpius, not far from the more well known Rho Ophiuchus dust cloud around Antares. It combines lots of faint dusty blue reflection nebulae (Vdb99), spread across the field like spider web, with an extensive field of faint red H-alpha emission nebula (Sharpless 2-1).

The autoguiding was superb aaall night, both nights, with the guide star seldom deviating more than 0.2 arc sec (at the limit of Astroarts autoguiding resolution of 0.05pix), and my mate Attila brought his awesome 3 inch achromat out and we had a ball observing with it for several hours while the FSQ imaged, incredible how much fun can be had and what you can see with just a 3 inch scope!

....oh and there was beer :drink: involved :D

This is a true colour LHaRGB image

Sharpless 2-1/Vdb99 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/strongman/48204948767/in/dateposted-public/) (click on image and scroll around with your cursor)

The full frame full res image is here (https://pbase.com/image/169450978/original)

Hope you like it :)

Mike

[Placidus]

Superb optics and superb guiding. The field stars are all pin-points.

The soft and gentle nebulosity makes for a very different image.

Sounds like much fun was had too!

[Slawomir]

It’s great you had fun Mike looking through a scope with a good friend - is that frost on the ground?

The image is superb, colours and sharpness top notch, but, perhaps, maybe a 2x2 mosaic would reveal the area in a fuller glory? :scared3: Just teasing of course :thumbsup:

[codemonkey]

Beautiful, Mike!

[multiweb]

Beautiful field. We had some good seeing lately where it was clear. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Andy01]

Beautifully subtle image - Gossamer like diaphanous veils of O3 wafting across the calm background seas of Ha, with pinpoint stars resembling lighthouses for celestial ships to safely navigate their passage. :D

Top shelf Sir Strongness :lol:

[ChrisV]

That's a stunning piece of sky. Quite incredible

[Bart]

LOL! :lol: Wot he said! :rofl::rofl:


Wow, Mike, that is awesome! :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Mike and Trish, yes I think I have the quintessential amateur wide field rig, I am very lucky and feel so privileged :prey2: Yes my current arrangement for imaging means each session is a whole traditional experience, out under the stars away from home and it is pretty cool fun. We are still in the market and looking for a dark sky property to move to (have been for nearly 2 years! :rolleyes:) when I eventually have my own observatory in my own back yard and automate my dome I will set things up so I can curl up with a red wine or beer inside with Angie and watch Netflix, while the rig chugs away outside :)....eventually :rolleyes:



Thanks so much Suavi and yes I love it when Attila comes out to my observatory, he only comes occasionally but we have a lot of history from our younger days and we always have a ball, beats being all alone for hours on end listening to the radio...although I do also enjoy the solitude and peace on a crisp clear moonless night with the Milky Way overhead and wee dram in hand, very cathartic :)



Cheers Lee :thumbsup:



Yes, the good thing about imaging at 3.5"/pix, I hardly ever notice the seeing from my location :thumbsup::thumbsup:



:lol: nice prose Andy...except, there is no OIII, that's blue refection nebula ;) This is a true colour LHaRGB image :thumbsup:...does look a bit like a narrow band HaOIIIOIII bi-colour image though huh? :)



I agree Chris, I just pressed a few button and clicked on a few menus, aaaand turned the dome, crawled under the counterweight bar in the dark many times, avoided hiting anything in the dark in a cramped dome, etc etc :P....the Universe did the rest :)



Thanks a lot Bart :thumbsup:

Mike

[gregbradley]

Just fantastic, I love these types of images. Processing is spot on and brings an intriguing element of moody atmosphere to it.

Greg.

[Decimus]

Another stunner, Mike. Superb. I like Andy's description too, LOL.

Cheers,
Richard

[Benjamin]

Lovely lovely image :-)

[strongmanmike]

Thanks a lot guys :thumbsup: love this rig, already plotting the next image :D

Mike

[Atmos]

Great shot Mike! It looks much better on my laptop than it does on my mobile :P
The strangeness of this field is that it visually looks like the blue nebula is closer than the red (floating above the red emission) but it's really the other way around!

[beren]

:thumbsup: brilliant again Mike, beautiful color just spot on congrats

[tornado33]

Wow. That area of sky shown like it hasnt been seen before. Top stuff

[strongmanmike]

I wondered that myself but I cant find anything on the distances to each neb, in fact it is confusing which catalogue each nebula belongs too Sh or Vdb..? :question:



Thanks a lot Beren :)

Mike

[strongmanmike]

There are a few good'uns out there of this area but not as many as there probably should be, thanks Scott :thumbsup:

Mike

[Ross G]

Hello Mike,


Every time I venture back to IIS one thing is guaranteed.....the excellence of your photos!


What a great looking image.
So sharp and such beautiful colours.


An inspiration!


Ross.

[Paul Haese]

I like the wispy dust and gas. Nice image and the composition works well too Mike.

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Ross, you are always too kind :)



Thanks Paul

Mike

[topheart]

Hi Mike,
A wonderful rendition!
It's great you are having so much fun while you, umm...work!!

Nothing like being out there yourself under the universe's gems hey!?

Cheers,
Tim

[strongmanmike]

Thanks a lot Timmy :)...and yes, caaaaan't wait to do that with you and your new 24" under the clear dry Bortle 1 skies of Chillagoe at 17deg S :stargaze: :prey2:

Mike