Orion Nebula in near infrared

[Stevec35]

This is nothing special but I've wanted to try the Astrodon near infrared filters on the Orion nebula for some time and last night was the first clear night for a while (and probably the last). Unfortunately just about everything went wrong but I managed to salvage something. This is a full size crop of the Trapezium area. The blooming around the trapezium was pretty hard to handle.

Cheers

Steve

http://members.pcug.org.au/~stevec/M42_IR_STL11K_RC.htm

[jjjnettie]

So many stars Steve. Wow!

[multiweb]

Cool. The trap looks definitely different. Very nice. Do you need real dark skies to do IR imaging? What are the requirements?

[Peter Ward]

Steve... I really like this..pity about the elongated stars, as you'd be on a winner (nothing a re-shoot wouldn't fix)

[Stevec35]

Thanks Peter. Yeah for some reason the stupid thing wouldn't guide properly last night. I'll definitely reshoot it but now the weather has closed in again. I did a tweak on the stars to reduce the elongation at the expense of softening them a bit more.



Thanks Marc. As far as I know you should be able to do this stuff under a full moon but I haven't tried it yet. Certainly they used to do IR at Mt Stromlo during full moon but that was probably a longer wavelength band.



Thanks mate

[multiweb]

So what sort of filter did you use specifically? Did you map IR to red like a Ha lum then standard G & B or does the filter act like a contrast filter and outputs RGB? Or is it a set of filters each for R, G & B?

[CoolhandJo]

Nice. Different look to it.

[Stevec35]

Best thing I can do I think Marc is give you the appropriate link on Don Goldman's web page.

Cheers

Steve

http://www.astrodon.com/products/filters/near-infrared/

[multiweb]

Cool - thanks. Makes sense now. Gotta see if my camera has any decent QE within those wavelength though. :question:

[gregbradley]

Hey that's cool Steve! I like the golden look to the stars.

Greg.

[RobF]

Great stuff. I wondered what IR pics would look like and why we don't see more of them.
Interesting article too.

[Martin Pugh]

Thanks Steve

not seen many images taken with the IR filter, and it does throw up a very interesting look. Nicely done.
cheers
Martin

[Stevec35]

Thanks Martin. I plan to reshoot it with more and better data when (if?) the sky clears again


Thanks Rob

Thanks Greg. You made a good pun there (cool = IR)

[marco]

Really fascinating image Steve, please keep posting more of these infrared view of the sky, I am happy to see familiar objects "under" a different light ;)

Marco

[rcheshire]

Steve. Are you using the complete set. I notice there are 4 filters in all. Interested in which band you were using at the time.

Fascinating shot -

[Stevec35]

Thanks - I didn't use the IR luminance this time because the trapezium area saturates even with 1 minute exposures. Incidentally if the sky ever clears up again I plan to reshoot this with more and better data.



Thanks Marco. Here's one example and there are more on my web site:

http://members.pcug.org.au/~stevec/m8_IR_STL11K_RC.htm

I try and pick objects that look radically different in the IR from the visible.

[renormalised]

Nice shots Steve. Imaging in the IR is something not many guys do, mostly because they never thought of doing it, or could get the filters for.

The best conditions to be taking IR pics is when the atm' is dry. Humidity really does a job on IR imaging....masks a lot of the IR. A cool, dry winter's day would be the best bet to be using IR....I reckon an IR shot of eta would be something to have a go at :)

[Stevec35]

Thanks Carl. Yes I was planning to have a go at Eta next, maybe the Tarantula too. I think given that we are only just barely dipping into the infrared, humidity is not going to have too bad an effect but I'm not sure. In any case, given current conditions, it might be a three month wait before the humidity goes away.

Cheers

Steve

[renormalised]

If last year is any indication, we may have to invest in huge silica gel bags to suck all the moisture out of the air, just so we can get a decent night's viewing without any clouds!!!!:D:P