Dark & Stormy Skies in Orion

[Andy01]

Interstellar dust clouds and bright nebulae abound in the fertile constellation of Orion. One of the brightest, M78, is near the centre in this view, covering an area north of Orion's belt. At a distance of about 1,500 light-years, the bluish nebula itself is about 5 light-years across. Its blue tint is due to dust preferentially reflecting the blue light of hot, young stars in the region. Dark dust lanes and other nebulae can easily be traced through the gorgeous sky scape that includes many Herbig- Haro objects, energetic jets from stars in the process of formation.(text from APOD)

Overall though, I'm happy with this image, taken over two nights under dark skies at my mate's property in rural Victoria. I was surprised how much Ha is present in this area, although this is only 3 hrs of it and of course I wanted more data (don't we always?) but I was prevented by a minor technical glitch & then the thick bushfire smoke hanging over Australia at present.

It sure was nice to be out under dark skies again though!:D

Larger one HERE (https://www.astrobin.com/full/jmceec/0/)

Link to behind the scenes video - https://share.icloud.com/photos/0g0xpqcCrLKjZ2VEZTIzVSckQ

[multiweb]

Nicely done. That's a faint one and you've got the red tinge right on the outer neb. :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

A good couple'a nights spent there Andy, you had a great time collecting it and with a nice image to show for your efforts and travels, I am sure you must be feeling quite satisfied...particularly after your recent rocket watching sojourn :) ....on space & astronomy cloud 9 :thumbsup:

[Retrograde]

That's a beautiful M78 Andy.
Excellent depth & resolution.

[Andy01]

Cheers Marc, I was really surprised by the amount of Ha captured in just 3 hrs, I suspect more would likely overpower the Nebula! Thanks for the nice feedback :thumbsup:



Cheers Mike! Yes nice to be back on earth again - as you know, those long haul flights to the USA are pretty arduous, but was well worthwhile to see two launches! Nice to be back imaging again- I was never happy with my previous attempts at this target so it felt good to get the M78 monkey off my back! :D



Thanks Pete! Dark skies make a heap of difference! Wish I could be undercthem more often :)

[Atmos]

Really nice Andy! It’s a bit of a fainter sucker and you’ve managed it well, the Ha really helps with showing it’s location in the dimmer regions.

[Andy01]

Thanks Col, appreciate the feedback! :D
I wonder what a straight Ha only image would look like given sufficient exposure time? :question:

[gregbradley]

That's a lovely version of M78. Nice detail and you got some moody red background glow. Only comment I would make is the blue colours in the reflection nebula seems off. Too much magenta and looks too sky blue in my opinion.

Greg.

[Andy01]

Cheers Greg! re: the colour - that's probably the influence of the strong Ha signal present I suspect. Thanks for the nice feedback :) :thumbsup:

[The_bluester]

Lovely result, just a pity the technical hitch interrupted things a bit, it would have been interesting to see what a few more hours would have done for it.

[Ross G]

A great looking photo of a beautiful object.


Nice colours and composition.


Ross.

[Benjamin]

I had a really strong “taste” reaction to the red and grey - like the metallic taste of kidney beans not well washed after being taken from the can! Oddly specific I realize but it’s not a reason not to like the image. It made me react quite powerfully, which is bloody wonderful! P.S. Wasn’t it Michael Collins who said space smelled like burnt toast? The red and grey could equally conjure that in my taste buds as well

[Andy01]

Cheers Mate, yes well the best laid plans & all - seems it may have be a power supply issue at the property, everything seems ok again here at home? Nice to get out under those lovely dark skies of yours again though!:D



Cheers Ross, one I can now tick off the bucket list of Northern Summer objects :thumbsup:



That's an interesting interpretation Ben! :lol:
Your point is well made though, you don't have to necessarily "like" an image to be moved by it, sometimes impact is key. :thumbsup:

[LewisM]

M78 is my favourite celestial object, and I have imaged it at least 30 times - it is also my desktop image, so I know what I am looking at :)

I'll be frank Andy - you've blurred it too mcuh IMHO. The dark regions and red H-a regions look like a photoshop blur action to mitigate noise, and doesn't "match" well with the not-so-blurred detail of the O3 blue regions. The dark dust and H-a regions should have a rather distinct and obvious edge to them

Sorry, but that's how I feel. Having looked at hundreds of M78 images - my own and many others including APODS - it's not right. Sorry.

Flame suit on :)

[CosmicEcho]

No flame suit required. It's an average rendition that is not right as noted.

[LewisM]

It’s well above average, but it’s just - to me - way too “corrected” and contrived.

And no I can’t do better...not through these horrible Canberran skies. I could look directly at the Sun 2 days ago

[Peter Ward]

Humm...I must be "impacting" people's opinions :)

A good M78 none-the-less

[LewisM]

Wait for the thud...:lol:

[Andy01]

Hi Lewis, all good - you can pop the flame suit back in the cupboard (but keep it handy in case those real fires come any closer to you). I respect your love of M78 so will take your comments onboard. Cheers! :thumbsup:



I’ve noticed a generally negative and sarcastic tone to this and your previous comments. Until you post some images here of your own I’d prefer you refrain from commenting on mine. Have a nice day. :D



Thanks Peter, it’s a gentle reminder that there’s no hiding behind impact, composition & technique when making LRGB images- they’re basically right or they’re not! Always room for improvement & I’m happy to learn :thumbsup:

[LewisM]

This is the image I use as my desktop image - not sure WHO'S it is - pulled it off a Google search a while back (someone Davis??)

Marco also did a GORGEOUS M78 a few years back, as did Rolf Olsen. lus my very average low-data rendition from 6 years ago (f/9 FL-102S doublet and an OSC CCD: https://www.astrobin.com/full/106523/0/ - yeah, I blurred my mega-noise too :P). You even commented on my image 5 years back :)

I'll NEVER be anywhere near decent at AP - not even half your talent Andy, but I do know M78 :)

[Andy01]

Lol, I had Marco’s image up on my screen as a reference to aim for whilst processing mine. Must find the link to another I really enjoyed as well. A case of great minds & all that :)
Cheers :thumbsup:

[Peter Ward]

No worries Andy...I was simply an observation I made on another post..."impacted" seems to be the Sesame Street "word on the street" for Politicians and Journalists at the moment.

[marco]

Nice one Andy, and I am happy to have been an inspiration on the processing :lol: I also have this target back on the list with my larger OTA, let's hope weather will allow it, last weeks it was very difficult to take any image with all the smoke and dust that is effecting Australia lately :shrug:
Clear skies
Marco

[Bart]

Hi Andy. Jury is still out for me on this one although it has lovely colours and is very moody. I think its a bit over smoothed?