Rho Oph "tyre tracks" running into the Milky Way

alexch (Alex) · #1 16-06-2010, 07:53 PM

Hi,

Attached is the image I took a little earlier on 14th of June around 8pm. I thought the Rho Ophiuchi "tyre tracks" looked quite nice running into the core of the Milky Way. The red glow is quite evident and I think it adds to the image.

I experimented with software de-rotation and stacked three 30-second exposures of the sky in Meade Envisage. The result was reasonably better with more detail and nebulosity than a single exposure so I kept it. The ground part is a stack of seven 30-second exposures in Registax.

This is my first attempt at stacking the sky images so please point out the mistakes.

P.S. I love "Led Zeppelin"

Cheers,
Alex

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #2 16-06-2010, 08:08 PM

What a beautiful wide field!

(

Zeppelin are awesome )

[1ponders] (Paul) · #3 16-06-2010, 08:15 PM

I really like that Alex. Fantastic first stack.

multiweb (Marc) · #4 17-06-2010, 12:55 AM

Wow! That's just awesome. Love those milkyway shots. The colours are unreal.

richardo (Rich) · #5 17-06-2010, 01:09 AM

That's a beaut Alex..
I too love these wide fields with the extra bonus of a terrestrial land mark.
Colours look great!

Well done.

Octane (Humayun) · #6 17-06-2010, 01:48 AM

Superb work, once again!

Is there a Led Zeppelin reference in the image or something? I can't see it. : )

Well, except Down by the Seaside. : D

H

alexch (Alex) · #7 17-06-2010, 01:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Octane

Superb work, once again!

Is there a Led Zeppelin reference in the image or something? I can't see it. : )

Well, except Down by the Seaside. : D

H

Stairway to Heaven (well, the stargazer's interpretation...)

iceman (Mike) · #8 17-06-2010, 04:55 AM

Awesome, again!

iceman (Mike) · #9 17-06-2010, 06:43 AM

What camera and lens do you use, Alex?

iceman (Mike) · #10 17-06-2010, 07:07 AM

This is now IOTW.

Big Dave (Dave) · #11 17-06-2010, 07:52 AM

Well done Alex.
P.S. You didn't miss much at Heatcoate this weekend!

rcheshire (Rowland) · #12 17-06-2010, 08:01 AM

Magnificent! But it ain't for sale!

gregbradley · #13 17-06-2010, 08:16 AM

Very artistic image.

Greg.

Lester · #14 17-06-2010, 09:20 AM

Eyecatching image, thanks for the view Alex.

Remus (Tom) · #15 17-06-2010, 10:50 AM

That's an awesome image you have there, well done!

alexch (Alex) · #16 17-06-2010, 11:39 AM

Thanks everyone for encouraging comments!

Quote:

Originally Posted by iceman

This is now IOTW.

Thanks Mike - it is much appreciated. I used the same camera/lens combination as usual - D700, 14-24mm at 14mm f/2.8.

Cheers,
Alex

Scorpius51 (John) · #17 17-06-2010, 01:34 PM

Alex

Stunning! Well done.

John

Hagar (Doug) · #18 17-06-2010, 03:21 PM

Magnificent. I remember this area well. I used to rock fish from these rocks many years ago before all the board walks went in.

Thanks for posting.

Omaroo (Chris Malikoff) · #19 17-06-2010, 04:15 PM

Fabulous image Alex. So Rivenesque. Go the Nikon

A D700 is probably next on my list.

alexch (Alex) · #20 18-06-2010, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omaroo

Fabulous image Alex. So Rivenesque. Go the Nikon

A D700 is probably next on my list.

Thanks, Chris and everyone.

D700 has an amazing dynamic range and low shadow noise at high ISO.

There is one caveat though, which you may already know about. Nikon DSLRs may not be well suited for guided photography because of the long exposure hot pixel removal algorithm which cannot be turned off. For well-guided exposures, it will discard some fainter stars as hot pixels.

All this is not a problem in my case of using fixed tripod

Cheers,
Alex