Some widefields

[Mickoid]

Took these last week from some clear skies while up at Mt Beauty for a few days. Most nights were clear with the moon rising close to and after midnight. I had only brought my portable rig with me - an iOptron Sky Tracker and an unmodded Fujifilm XT-100 mirrorless camera. These were taken from the backyard of the house we were staying at so there was some light around from neighbouring properties. Despite this, the sky was heaps clearer and darker than the Bortle 6 skies I shoot from back home. All shots had no more than 1 hour exposure with a 200mm SUN f2.8 lens, in the case of the LMC, it included 30 mins using a 7nm Ha filter ( the XT-100 is quite sensitive to Ha ). Carina's exposure was only 5 x 1 mins. The Witch Head nebula was getting too low in the west to achieve a decent result, especially with such short integration times.

[John W]

Nice set of images Michael - well done.

[Dave882]

Wow they’re great! Love how much you could capture in such a short time great work!

[Mickoid]

Yes, thanks and the improved transparency and contrast of a dark sky enables that luxury!


Thanks John, I also took some Nightscapes which I may post in that section.

Here's another of the LMC I took with the Sony RX100 on a static flimsy tripod. Just 23 x 15 seconds @ 6400 iso, 26mm full zoom f2.8 (70mm Full Frame equivalent ).

[Plossl68]

Wow Mick! Awesome widefields. I’m a particular fan of the LMC and think it’s a stunning picture. As much as I like DSO work, a great widefield target just has a sense of natural beauty to it.
Thanks for posting them,
Paul

[Leo.G]

Stunning images Michael!

[AstroViking]

Very nicely done, Michael. Especially the Witch-head; that's come out very well.

[Mickoid]

Thanks for the compliments Paul, Leo and Steve. It was great to be able to take nice shots from the backyard of the holiday house we stayed in. The only restriction were a few objects such as M45 that I wanted to have a go at in the north that were very low in the sky so other houses nearby, obscured their view. :(