M7- Ptolemy meets Bowie

[Andy01]

M7 has been known since antiquity; it was first recorded by the 2nd-century Greek-Roman astronomer Ptolemy, who described it as a nebula in 130 AD.

(Well nevermind, he also thought the Earth was the centre of the universe, which revolved around it!)

Italian astronomer Giovanni Batista Hodierna observed it before 1654 and counted 30 stars in it.
In 1764, French astronomer Charles Messier catalogued the cluster as the seventh member in his list of comet-like objects.
English astronomer John Herschel described it as "coarsely scattered clusters of stars".

Anyway, it's pretty darned amazing looking up into the core of the Milky way and gazing in wonder at the sea of stars behind M7. :eyepop:

Whoever said that "there are more stars in the sky then grains of sand on all the beaches on all the earth" needs only to show a disbeliever this photo! :lol:

Bowie fans will recognise the Starman himself, dancing above the cluster! :cool:

Here he is! (https://www.astrobin.com/full/0s3733/0/)

5 hrs data, taken from light pollutionville, Melbourne, Australia. :D

[Placidus]

Lovely Andy! The contrast between the golden sand of the Milky Way and the big bold hot young stars of the cluster is wonderful. The dust lanes look like a Kanji character, with a hint of skull-n-cross-bones. We didn't know that was there (not obvious in binoculars!). The one single yellow star adds further charm.

Best,
MnT

[gregbradley]

That's a wonderful image Andy. Love the colours and the cluster stars look terrific. Super resolution as well.

Greg.

[PKay]

Nice one Andy, lots of detail.
Do you classify this as wide field?

PK

[Ryderscope]

That’s a beautiful wide field image Andy. Like a cluster of luminous pearl shells scattered over golden sands :)

[Andy01]

Cheers M&T, it's a departure from my usual big & bold style, but just look at the sheer magnificence of all those stars! :eyepop:
The history gives a bit of perspective too - after all, compared to the evolution of stars, the human race is akin to ants marching across a leaf! :D




Cheers Greg, slowly but surely getting a handle on the Tak - auto focussing really helps!



Cheers Peter - not really WF as I don't have the FL to go deeper, but sure, why not! :question::thumbsup:



Cheers Rodney - soooooo many stars - would love to look at this through a really big scope! :D

[vlazg]

Very nice Andy, definitely a departure from your usual style. :D

[strongmanmike]

Always a rather thought provoking star filed this one, so many stars, so many planets...so many life forms..? :shrug: :scared2::ship2: Nice work Andy, good to be able to get some RGB colour shots from the grey sky burbs, harder to process sure but if you pick the right objects, more than respectable results, like this, can be achieved :thumbsup:

Mike

[multiweb]

Your best shot to date. Straight to the poolroom. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Andy01]

Cheers George! Nice to keep things fresh occasionally :D



Yes Mike - LRGB images are not easy, especially under LP - they usually only look "right" or "wrong" with little margin for error or creativity in colour or luminosity etc. so I played this one pretty straight, seems to have worked out ok :thumbsup:

As to the content - as Carl Sagan said - "The Universe is pretty big place. If it's just us, seems like an awful waste of space."




Merci Monsieur, Salut! :cheers: :D

[topheart]

Very nice!
A lovely field of view - well composed.

Cheers,
Tim

[Slawomir]

IMHO Rodney's description really well captures impressions when looking at your image - well done Andy :thumbsup:

[Peter Ward]

I wasn't sure about this one until I looked at the full-res version.

The star colour variations are really quite engaging. Picking out the occasional red star is like spotting "Wally" in the crowd.

Indeed... so many stars reminded me of one of Sagan's quotes:

“The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.”

― Carl Sagan, Cosmos

Nice one :thumbsup:

[Andy01]

Cheers Tim - I believe good composition is important, so thanks :thanx:, glad you liked it! :D



Cheers Suavi - A simple image at first glance, but going deeper reveals much of the history of the galaxy. :)



Thanks Peter, gotta give the Tak optics credit for the star resolution - at first glance I thought the red stars were a processing error!
It's a deceptively simple image, and also one to ponder - over a glass or two :cheers:

[Peter Ward]

That would be a great! Sadly for me it's "Dry July" :sadeyes:
... but I'll happily buy you a beer if The Malin's bring us together again at Parkes.

[Andy01]

That would be lovely! :cheers: but as we've just been locked down yet again here in Melbs, it's back to the wife's home brewed Gin for now - and pretty darn good it is too :)

[Anth10]

Andy,
There is a Starman waiting in the Sky! heheheh

Nicely done by the way and imagination to boot.
Cheers,

Anth

[ChrisV]

I was never completely convinced by the 80s Bowie reinvention. But the man who fell to earth, now you're talking. Lovely shot!

[Andy01]

I wondered how many Bowie fans there would be here :D
Bowie must have been fascinated by Space so I compiled a playlist of his space related tunes to share on SPOTIFY (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4YCepLBn21OmPYtzqMFvJG?si=rIPTiVY4S A6zeVB9GJckrA) so you can all Freak out on a Moonage Daydream next time you're out imaging! :lol: