Barnard Loop

[multiweb]

Here's one I took at BSG on Thursday night with a QHY8 and a SMC Pentax-M 100mm lens two stops down.

There's a bigger field here (http://www.astropic.net/astro/OrionBarnardLoop_rgb_ff.jpg) [4.3MB | 2128px wide]
and a smaller version here (http://www.astropic.net/astro/OrionBarnardLoop_rgb_f.jpg)[2.5MB | 1600px wide]

First night was unsuccessful as the fog rolled in around 3:00am but the second night stayed clear and relatively dry way past sunrise so I managed 45x180s on it.

Still fairly low but the skies were pretty dark pointing north and I really wanted to have a crack at it so I'll make sure I reshoot it at the zenith when it's the season. Probably with something a tad wider too.

This shot had a lot of gradients to deal with due to low altitude and I'm surprised it still turned out sort of alright. :)

[Octane]

Bloody sensational. That is beautiful, Marc.

From what I recall, the northerly aspect at Wymah is fantastic.

H

[richardo]

Wow, have to agree with H, this is excellent Marc!
I keep forgetting how far and extensive Barnards loop is.. this certainly puts everything back into perspective!

Are you able to crank up the saturation some? Just looks a little light on... perhaps just check your black point... before hand.. my only nit pick.


Good stuff and what a fov!

All the best
Rich

[RobF]

Great shot Marc - love this object
I've read visual observers are supposed to be able to see Barnard's loop under ideal conditions. Has anyone ever seen/heard of that? I would have thought it was way to diffuse.

(if it's in Wikipedia though it MUST be right ;))

[desler]

That's a ripper Marc, well done!

Darren

[midnight]

A perspective not often seen. Just so much going on in there Marc - you've done very well.

Well done!!

Darrin...

[Mighty_oz]

Lovely shot, that pentax is a keeper hey :)

[SkyViking]

Very nice, I like the overall soft appearance of the nebulosity.

[Lester]

That it a view that I will never tire of, well presented Marc. All the best.

[sjastro]

Excellent image Marc.

Steven

[multiweb]

Thanks H. :thumbsup: Yes it is indeed pitch black on the North side. Couple of trees in the way but I was desperate to get that one and started shooting as soon as I locked on a guide star through the leaves then went to bed.


Thanks Rich. :thumbsup: This data is coming back from the grave really. You should see what I started with. I think it's the maximum amount of tinkering it can take. Boosting saturation would reveal more problems than it's worth but I'll shoot a nice one when the season comes.


Thanks Rob. :thumbsup: Well I know a few people who managed to see the HH from Ilford with a specific filter on a very dark night. From this shot you can tell the barnard loop looks much dimmer than the HH. But maybe for the lower left part so it would be a challenge IMO. May be with binoculars? But I doubt you'd see it on a longer FL scope. Or on top of a mountain in high altitude. Who knows? That wouldn't be from Oz though. :shrug:


Thanks Darren. Glad you liked it. :thumbsup:


Thanks for looking Darrin. :thumbsup:


Thanks Marcus. :thumbsup: The 100mm FOV is nice for most things but of all my lenses it's the only one that will still give me a bit of coma even stopped but I'm used to it. :)


Thanks Rolf. :thumbsup: I spent a fair bit on processing this one and I think the soft/natural appearance comes from the lack of data and altitude which is good in a way, as I tend to be a bit extreme with saturation and sharpening when processing this area. Which I'll do eventually. :P


Thanks a lot Lester. :thumbsup:


Thanks for the commenst Steven. :thumbsup:

[suma126]

brilliant image well done :)

[atalas]

Hey,how cool is this shot! well done Marc.

[Tom Davis]

Wow, that time of year already!? Great shot, Marc!

Tom

[strongmanmike]

Gee that is pretty good Marc, bet it has you begging to do it again with more exposure and when it is higher in teh sky?

Nice job

Mike

[TrevorW]

Very well done Marc

[DavidU]

Well done Marc,a superb vista.

[gregbradley]

Very nice Marc.

It'd be good to shoot some Ha with that also.

Greg.

[multiweb]

Thanks for the comments Shane. :thumbsup:

Thanks a lot Louie. :thumbsup: How's that new cam coming? Ironed out all the bugs?

Thanks for looking Tom. :thumbsup: Yeah a bit early in the season but what else is there to do between 3:00am and sunrise? ;)


Thanks Mike. :thumbsup: Yes more data is the go. Haven't you heard? M42 is the new M8.


Thanks Trev. Glad you liked it. :thumbsup:

Thanks for the kind comments David. :thumbsup:


Thanks Greg. :thumbsup: You're right, this area is awesome in Ha so a blend will ultimately be the go to bring out all the interesting stuff. Plenty of time. It's only going to get higher. This was a good practice run.

[RickC]

Marc,
very nice image

[John Hothersall]

A few years ago this would be considered very difficult indeed and you are getting some of that dark dust cooled CCD's get, M78 dust lane is well seen. Excellent result.

John.

[multiweb]

Thanks Rick. :thumbsup:



Thanks John. :thumbsup: I was surprised it picked any of the brown stuff at all because the subs were only 3min but I reckon at the meridian it will pick up a lot more and I intend eventually to do a Ha Blend.

[Hagar]

Nice one Marc, so thats what was going on in that tent of yours. A couple of times we thought you had died in there. We were going to send JohnG on a mission to check you out and you just seem to pop up.
I bet you had more sleep than me. It ended up perfect every night.
Nice to meet you, finally. Next year we should have a night off and give the red a nudge.

Love the detail in all the right bits, looks like you at least had everything working well.

Great stuff.

[multiweb]

Thanks a lot Doug. :thumbsup: :lol: No I wasn't sleeping in the tent, too cold. I went back to the dorms. I was in and out to change target and check cable drag now and then. You saw my rig. It looked like a bag of noodles wrapped in rugs. Was good to have a yak with John and yourself. Always ready to give some support. :)

[jase]

Excellent image Marc. Puts everything into perspective. Would be even more sensational if you could also squeeze in the witch head neb. Keep them coming.

[multiweb]

Thanks Jase. :thumbsup: Yes I plan to do a mosaic of this eventually with a 200mm to get a bit more image scale and map maybe 6 or 8 frames to include the whole constellation. That'll be my summer project.

[Star Catcher]

Nice one Marc, a pleasure to view.

Ted

[multiweb]

Thank you very much Ted. :thumbsup:

[cfranks]

A really excellent image of a difficult object. Very well done Marc.

Charles

[multiweb]

Thank you for the kind comments Charles. :thumbsup:

[Alchemy]

Wow that's a wide field, such a challenge with the brightness of 42 compared to the loop.

[peeb61]

Marc,
Very, very nice indeed!

Paul

[LucasB]

Marc,
That is a beautiful widefield shot. It's really nice to see this large area with that sort of detail.:thumbsup:
Lucas

[batema]

Marc,
It constantly amazes what fantastic images people deliver at this site. It's a ripper and as you say bring on the image in a couple of months. More exposure and get those amazing dust lanes. Well done.
Mark

[multiweb]

Thanks Clive. :thumbsup: I did fairly short exposures keeping in mind M42 would blow right out but still had to do some masking on the core to bring it down a tad while keeping true to the relative luminosity and colors as much as possible.


Thanks Paul. Glad you've enjoyed it. :thumbsup:


Thanks Lucas. :thumbsup: Yes it's pretty cool to take the whole field in one go and see all the familiar objects in realtion to each other. Even M78 turned out in the lower left corner.

Thanks for the kind comments Mark. :thumbsup: Ha is the go in this area to really put the icing on the cake and complement the field. This area is very rich with it.

[Ross G]

Hi Marc,

What a great photo.

Amazing field of view and so much detail from just OSC.

The 100mm lens is performing so well.

I take it you had a great time at Albury?


Thanks.

Ross.

[multiweb]

Thanks mate. :thumbsup: 100mm is nice but I now think I need both something in the 80/90mm range and also 135mm. Yeah I had a ball at BSG. Too short though. You should come next year. Nice easy drive down.

[trent_julie]

Great shot Marc,
Inspirational stuff!

[multiweb]

Thanks Trent. :thumbsup: