Black snakes and clouds in the Milky Way

[strongmanmike]

I have always wanted to image this area and finally with an ongoing run of uncharacteristic clear weather lately I managed to fit a quicky in of it on the weekend :clap: .
The attached low res version will let you decide if you want to look at the much clearer bigger files below :)

Full frame high res small size (2.7meg)
http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/116182738/original

Full Frame high res large size (5.5meg)
http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/116183021/original

Closer crop of dark clouds (2.8meg)
http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/116183119/original

It isn't a totally opaque cloud here is the snake up close (2meg)
http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/116183174/original

Hope you like'em :)

[astroron]

Nice images Mike:) I like them:D

[dugnsuz]

Top dust lane looks like a sleeping big cat Mike!!
Lovely image...

[renormalised]

Very nicely done, Mike...great definition in the dust clouds:D:D

[Martin Pugh]

Hi Mike
I do like dark nebulae, and this is a nice image. I do think the background is too red though and perhaps you could crop out that very bright star on the left as it certainly draws the eye.

cheers
Martin

[strongmanmike]

Cool Ronny



Yeh..? :screwy: don't be rediculous...it's clearly a 16" F3.6 corrected Newtonian with carbon fibre tube you looney Doug :doh: :rolleyes:



Cheers Carl, yes in the early images of this nebula it was uniformly dark, the improved dynamic range of modern CCD imaging makes a difference :thumbsup:



Yes I agree with you Marti, there is something very attractive about dark dust clouds :love:, they give a feeling of depth I think and the sudden loss of stars is always fascinating.

This area is full of dust so the very faint background stars would be pretty reddened I think but you might be right.. :confuse3:..I do like it the way it is though :shrug:. Oh and as for the bright star, yes, I expected it may produce strong halos that I may have not been able to deal with 100% so I erred on the side of caution and placed it in the corner so I would have the option of cropping it out if need be...it did produce halo's which I managed to mostly deal with...but I don't mind it now..?

Mike

[loc46south]

Like the Clarity and detail of the background stars - nice clear image - well processed

[multiweb]

Nice crisp field with beautiful contrast. :thumbsup:

[tornado33]

Very nice.
I can seed that the starlight that does make it through the snake is reddened more then the unobstructed background stars. That blob below the snake is particularily dense.

Once again I note stars right to the corners every bit as sharp as in the middle :)
Scott

[marc4darkskies]

Very nice Mike. :thumbsup:

I don't think it's too red at all, but I don't much like the blue pimple in the bottom left ... tends to draw attention away from the neb. Your close up crop is the most striking image IMO.

Cheers, Marcus

[Alchemy]

crisp as always, thanks for putting up the smaller version, with a 500mb allowance amonth i can get 100 big images or lots and lots of smaller ones.... and can go and save the special ones i want.

cheers clive

[gregbradley]

Not the most photogenic object, but hey you've already imaged all the good ones!

Colour background seems correct after checking other examples on the net. Its a kind of a reddish sandstone look. The stars look nice.

I like the crop the best.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Geoff, I find the star field images the easiest to process actually and I think the "millions of tiny dots" look accentuates the high res sharpness too - I like :thumbsup:



Ta Marc I have always wanted to image this bit of Milky Way since seeing EE Barnards version in a book when I ws a teenager, I have captured it in very wide fields before but not up close like this.



Yes I noticed the densness of that blob too Scott, it has a very "reach out and grab it" feel to it huh?



Ah that dreaded star :scared: OK, I have posted a version that is pimple-less :P



The small IIS version is pretty poor in comparison to the larger files. You can go to my Pbase site and select "large" in the "other sizes" menu at the bottom of each image page, this opens a much smaller version of each image but better than what IIS displays, you can then decide if you want to open the "original" size



Oh you hurt my Snakes feelings Greg, he thinks he is gods gift to girl snakes :P



Cheers mate, my thoughts too :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

For those of you who were distracted by the blue star in the bottom left corner, here is a version with it removed :)

http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/116222573/original

Mike

[Bassnut]

...........wha, wha was that, where, wha,....... a REMOVED star ? :jawdrop: :lol:

[strongmanmike]

No don't worry Fred, that particular avenue of please is all yours ;) I just cropped the side of the image off :D

Glad you liked the non existent star :rolleyes: I appologise for the rest of the image, real stuff must be alarming to you :whistle:

Then again maybe I will try some smoke and mirrors and just clone the star out...? hmm? Cheers

Mike

[Bassnut]

Crop?, OK, cool :D. And that would be "healing tool" Mike, Ill show you how to use it one day ;) :thumbsup:.

Oh, and by the way, excellent pic :whistle:.

[BerrieK]

Oooh thats beautiful Mike. I prefer the crop with the blue star 'removed', but the full frame hi res is really amazing.

I've just come inside from lying on the lawn admiring our galaxial arm - it really is beautiful. You've really captured the 'feel' of the exquisite visual voids of the dusty nebula, with a smidge of detail poking through the dark. Lovely.

(no man was hurt in the making of this image...:D)

Kerrie

[DavidU]

Beautiful just beautiful
Crop, full frame, doesn't matter all superb

[strongmanmike]

Ah yes, that blue star..pesky blighter :doh:

Hope you were lying on a rug...and were not alone ;) :love2: :whistle:

Actually I tripped on the power cord that night but yes I wasn't hurt :P

Thanks Kerrie



Thanks Dave glad you liked them all :thumbsup: Given my FOV I usually manage a few different crops :D

[strongmanmike]

Worked it out mate :P - it's like magic :whistle:

This is now the full frame image but without the star :thumbsup:

http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/116222573/original

Mike

[gregbradley]

That looks really nice now. Amazing how many stars are crammed together in the centre of our galaxy. It looks like a piece of sandstone.

Greg.

[RB]

Another fascinating object wonderfully done Mike.

Actually I don't mind the blue star, it's my favourite colour, but that's a discussion for another time (perhaps at IISAC09 over a Guinness). :P