The Witch Head Nebula wide field

[marco]

Dear all, I am happy to finally have online my first image obtained with my new observatory in Coonabarabran, NSW, Autralia. Actually this is a second light, the real first one is still under processing because part of a larger mosaic.

The subject is IC2118, the elusive Witch Head nebula. Total integrated exposure was 7.5 hours through HaLRGB filters. All subframes were 10 minutes, unguided.

This is another picture taken through the Pentax SMCP 300 EDIF at full aperture coupled to my FLI 16803 Proline. This lens is proving to be pretty good even at full aperture (f/4) with an excellent correction over the large ccd field.

here is the link:
http://astrosurf.com/lorenzi/ccd/ic2118_ccd.htm (http://astrosurf/)

Hope you will like it
Clear Skies

Marco Lorenzi
http://astrosurf.com/lorenzi/
(http://astrosurf)

[mithrandir]

Marco, your links are broken. Cut and paste works but the URLs do not. These do:

http://astrosurf.com/lorenzi/

http://astrosurf.com/lorenzi/ccd/ic2118_ccd.htm

Your own obs at Coonabarabran? I'm green.

[Octane]

Marco,

That is incredible. Wow!

Speechless.

H

[marki]

Wow, thats almost 3D... would have to be one of the best images I have seen posted here.

Mark

[Liz]

Fabulous Marco!! Thank you for the info as well :thumbsup:

[multiweb]

:eyepop: Such a cool shot Marco! Inspirational. Colours and details are truly superb. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Yes that is certainly one of the most beautiful renditions of the Witch Head nebula that I have seen. You have blended the Ha and LRGB perfectly, congratulations on a magnificent image Lorenzi :clap:

I have an FLI ProLine 16803 coming soon too :D

Guardi le stelle
Che tremano d'amore

Mike :thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

Super shot. I have never seen the Ha background having been picked up that well.

That Pentaz lens is working beautifully. I did not know any lens covered that huge chip that well.

I had my Proline 16803 out over the weekend as well doing some narrowband imaging finally after a hiatus.

Such a nice camera. It does everything so well.

Greg.

[TrevorW]

Definetly one for pic of the week IMO

[DavidU]

Damn fine image there Marco.

[jjjnettie]

A pleasure to look at!
thanks

[marco]

Wow, thanks a lot for the nice comments to everybody :)

My telescope is hosted at Peter Starr's facility, www.tenbyobservatory.com/, great place to shoot from.

For Greg: this pentax lens is native for the 67 format and I have to say it is a great value for money. What really impresses me is the chromatic correction, better of many socalled APO telescopes out there. Pity it is available with difficulty only on the second hand market.

For Mike: Le stelle sono buchi nel cielo da cui filtra la luce dell'infinito :P

[Paul Haese]

Superb image. The Ha background really brings the image to life. The blending is really good too. Certainly on the best images I have seen of this object.

[AlexN]

Beautiful! Great work!

[strongmanmike]

For Ice in Space:

I said "look at the stars that tremble with love" Giacomo Puccini

Marco said: "The stars are holes in the sky from which filters the light of infinity" some poet I think..?

:thumbsup:

[marco]

It's Confucius. Providing I live in China I couldn't resist ;)

Clear Skies
Marco

[Lester]

Outstanding image of such a faint object; let alone the fainter background nebula that I have never seen before.

Thanks for the view Marco and all the best for more.

[Liz]

Oh, beautiful words .... all gone goosebumps :)

[lacad01]

Great image Marco and interesting write up as well :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Well he was a sort of a poet :question:...certainly famous for short reflective analogies anyway :P

[Doomsayer]

An amazing rendition of that object - in particular the separation from the background - and great to see the seemingly forgotten Pentax medium format camera lenses being used like this. I assume you had a 6x7 adapter made for the Proline?

There is quite a range of relatively forgotten classic medium format lenses and even the 'classic' large format (for use with 4x5, 5x7 oir 8x10inch film or larger)camera lenses whcih also have great potential for this sort of work. Many of these lenses are undervalued or considered obsolete at present.

guy

[jase]

Great work Marco. You've managed the intensity of Rigel exceptionally well. Massive FOV with this equipment combination. A visual treat. Thanks for sharing.

[iceman]

Now that's stunning, a truly beautiful image.

It's now this week's IOTW (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/home.html).

[marco]

Thanks Mike, I am very happy for that, in particular after having seen so many nice images in these pages!

Clear Skies
Marco

[malp]

Wonderful image, top class.

[browndog]

Wow !!! - what a fantastic image.
Thank you for sharing.

[Garyh]

Nearly missed this beauty! That faint Ha in the background really makes this one special!
Gary

[DiamondDust]

Don't know about all the technical stuff:screwy:, do know it's just beautiful to look at, thank you Marco.

[ReaPerMan]

A truely awe inspiring photo, Cudos Marco. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[marco]

Thanks Paul, Ingrid, Gary, Ian and Malcom for your kind appreciation!

Marco

[skeltz]

nice,nice ..nice marko umm what filters you using outa curiosity :)

[Martin Pugh]

Very nicely done Marco

I am also shooting this right now - got about 12 hours or so, and about 30+ to go!

well done
Martin

[marco]

Thanks Martin and Rob!



LRGB are the latest Baader 50mm square I bought to replace my Astrodon Gen2 LRGB set I used before (too bad reflections to my taste, these filters are much better)

The Ha is an Astrodon 5nm filter.

Clear Skies
Marco