M42! It's amazing what you can find...

[Crater101 (Warren)]

...when cleaning up.

I should preface this post by saying that the attached image is not my creation. Since I didn't capture it, I've put it in general chat. Mods, please move if necessary.

I was tidying up in the garage today and came across and old cardboard box full of science magazines from the past. One of them was OMEGA, an Australian science digest magazine that ran from the early to late 80's. The attached image was part of a fold-out feature starting on page 84 of this issue - the November/December 1981 issue - titled We're Reaching For The Stars, by Cheryl Clayton.

One of the little things the article stated was
"How do career astronomers hope to learn the secrets of all the multitudes of stars in the sky? The answer: only with the help of countless enthusiastic, knowledgeable amateurs."

The image, titled M42: the Great Nebula in Orion had the following on it.

"The photographer was R. Milne using a 20cm Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, taking a 20 minute exposure at f10 on Ektachrome 400 chilled to -76 degrees C and pushed to 800 ASA."

I don't know who R. Milne is, but remember this was done on FILM over 40 years ago without the benefit of digital enhancement. We've come a long way in this hobby - but let's not forget that there were people pushing it forward long ago. If anyone knows the photographer / astronomer, let them know that their work hasn't been forgotten!


EDIT: The image was scanned by me on a document scanner at 300dpi. It's not a photo quality scanner, so that may account for some of the grain in the image.

[dikman (Richard)]

I remember Omega magazine. Assuming he was an amateur (most likely, given the context of the article) then that's impressive work, chilling film and processing it.

[Crater101 (Warren)]

Originally Posted by dikman

I remember Omega magazine. Assuming he was an amateur (most likely, given the context of the article) then that's impressive work, chilling film and processing it.

Happy to know I'm not the only one! And yeah...pretty impressive.

[Peter Ward]

The tech available to today's amateurs is really quite amazing.
My not so recent M42 managed to cause a bit of a stir at the time.

I suspect emCCD's and deformable AO mirrors, if they ever become affordable
could be game changers....we shall see!

[Nikolas (Nik)]

wow that image is amazing Peter

[Crater101 (Warren)]

I have to agree. Stunning image with superb detail! Well done all around Peter.

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by Crater101

I have to agree. Stunning image with superb detail! Well done all around Peter.

Serendipity is a curious thing....I was literally unearthing some of my 1960's vintage Dinky toys today ( made in England no less) for my grandson, and thought...hummm...I've seen your avatar/icon before.

Captain Scarlet eh?

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

Serendipity is a curious thing....I was literally unearthing some of my 1960's vintage Dinky toys today ( made in England no less) for my grandson, and thought...hummm...I've seen your avatar/icon before.

Captain Scarlet eh?

I suspect this was a little cryptic for younger IIS members. Gerry Anderson who created "The Thunderbirds" had another TV series called... Captain Scarlett
& Mysterons, a race of Martians who possess partial control over matter. It screened on TV in 1967 and 1968.

In reality, Mars turned out to be rather boring.

Dinky Toys made a set of cars that featured in the TV show. (attached: the set that was mine, that my grandson is playing with).

The Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle was my favourite! (It had a functioning missile launcher)

Note the logo on the vehicles

[Crater101 (Warren)]

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

Serendipity is a curious thing....I was literally unearthing some of my 1960's vintage Dinky toys today ( made in England no less) for my grandson, and thought...hummm...I've seen your avatar/icon before.

Captain Scarlet eh?

I've been found out!


Yes, you're correct. I was a huge fan of the series growing up, and not only the avatar fits here; "Crater101" was one of the episodes based on the moon - and viewing the moon was what got me hooked on astronomy in the first place.


I'm not the only one either - I think you'll find one or two folks here who have more than a passing interest in the show.


Those dinky toys seem in good shape - particularly the logo!


Egad! I've almost derailed my own thread!

[dikman (Richard)]

I thought that logo looked vaguely familiar. I remember all those Gerry Anderson shows, guess my age is showing.......

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Hey Capt Scarlet, fun thread, I love nostalgia

I used a similar setup, but a Celestron5 not Celestron8 and B&W film, not colour but I did also use a dry ice powered cold camera, to do THIS in 1984, progress is an amazing thing.....

The comparison is with my last image of the Orion Nebula, taken back in 2011, maybe I do another from my new location..?

Mike

[Crater101 (Warren)]

I'd heard of people using dry ice in their camera setups, but that exploded view is the first time I'd seen the application of it. Nice one. No doubt the addition of the Old Spice lid added a certain (cough) atmosphere? Sorry...



Some damn fine results too. It's funny, but as someone who studied photography at TAFE, we sometimes forget (in our rush to embrace new technology) how capable some of the old methods were.