The Milky Way around 11 hours now with 4 hours of infrared added
This is one of a series of Milky Way shots I have taken recently.
I have accumulated over 20 hours of data and still imaging using my FLI Proline camera and a Nikon 50mm F1.8G lens and about 10 hours of DSLR data.
Experimenting further with the ideal exposure length for my D800E camera I took several hours of images using 10, 15, 30 and 60 minute subexposures.
Each has its merits but 60 minutes at low ISO works best. The camera is operating pretty much at the maximum dynamic range it can. Faint details start to emerge. Dust areas become more visible. However other factors start influencing the image like cloud,treetops etc, so 1 hour may not always be the best strategy.
So over several nights at my dark site this image was the culmination of D800E plus Ha and S11 data from my Proline imaging at home. Another much longer CCD image is being processed.
I am very happy with this image and is one of my all time favourite images. The D800E worked great here. I wasn't sure about 1 hour DSLR exposures but it worked great. It was autoguided on a PMX mount at my dark site observatory under excellent seeing.
I like the dust areas, they extend upwards and below a long way and very little around the centre. It reminds me of the Sculptor Galaxy image by R Jay Gabany that shows the dust jets that rise vertically from that galaxy.
Greg.
Last edited by gregbradley; 15-09-2013 at 06:27 PM.
That's pretty amazing Greg You wouldn't think that's our Milky Way. It looks like a closeup of any other galaxy, or as if had been imaged from M31 The central bulge stands out very well. I can almost imagine what it would look like face on.
That's pretty amazing Greg You wouldn't think that's our Milky Way. It looks like a closeup of any other galaxy, or as if had been imaged from M31 The central bulge stands out very well. I can almost imagine what it would look like face on.
Nice work
Erik
Yes you definitely get a sense of the shape of our Milky Way here. Also the top right part looks a little bit flat in shape so I wonder if we are looking at the top part of an arm with the side as well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Regulus
That's beautiful Greg
Trevor
Thanks Trevor. I like this image myself a lot and is currently my favourite image I have taken so far in astrophotography.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rustigsmed
awesome image, and interesting to see more red 'than usual' in the dusty regions.
cheers
rusty
The red areas are the Hydrogen Alpha and Sulphur emissions I imaged using the Proline camera and then aligned and blended them into the DSLR image to highlight those nebula areas in the Milky Way.
Quote:
Originally Posted by knackers
One word: "Awesome".
Thanks for that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by LightningNZ
Greg - impressive stuff. Are you cooling your D800E in any way. I'm utterly amazed at how well it can handle such long exposures.
It really shows how far these CMOS sensors have come. In the summer my Canon 300D gives an almost white image after 2 minutes just from heat.
Cheers,
Cam
Hi Cam. No cooling. Just set the intervalometer to one hour and away she goes. I checked the camera after the first time I did a 1 hour shot for temperature. Just touching around the camera in various spots to see if it felt hot. It didn't. It felt normal. There is no noise reduction set in the camera at all. I did 10 minute, 15 minute, 30 minute and 60 minute images. This one is 2 x 60 minutes as they look the best overall.
Just beautiful. I've never seen our galaxy quite that way. It really puts our tiny Earth way out in a spiral arm in an almost scary perspective. Or, should I say it would be a lot more scary to be closer in!
Just beautiful. I've never seen our galaxy quite that way. It really puts our tiny Earth way out in a spiral arm in an almost scary perspective. Or, should I say it would be a lot more scary to be closer in!
Bravo,
Peter
Yes its got a lot going on in it and all so close.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter.M
Now that's what i'm talking about!
Thanks Peter.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jase
What a stunner Greg. I think you've found your calling. Time to sell off your long focal length gear. Top shelf image.
That''s funny Jase but a hint of truth there. I am fast becoming a Milky Way specialist!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shiraz
that really is an exceptional image Greg - congratulations. regards ray
Cheers Ray.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RickS
That's a stunning image, Greg! The only criticism I have is that the Great Dark Horse is upside down
Yes that's right. That's on purpose actually as right side up even though the Milky Way is right on the diagonal it appears to be unbalanced in the image as the Milky Way has a slight curve in it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pvelez
Superb Greg
Nothing else I can say.
Pete
Thank Pete. I am very happy with it. I hope the CCD version turns out as well. I have a ton of data to put together.
Wonderful work Greg. You should do a talk on this stuff
Is that large image native resolution out of interest, or is the jpg still not able to show a lot of the fine detail?
Wonderful work Greg. You should do a talk on this stuff
Is that large image native resolution out of interest, or is the jpg still not able to show a lot of the fine detail?
Thanks Rob. The larger image is smaller than native which is about 7260 pixels by 4000 odd but at 14mm the resolution is limited despite the excellent seeing.
You wouldn't think that's our Milky Way. It looks like a closeup of any other galaxy, or as if had been imaged from M31
The central bulge stands out very well. I can almost imagine what it would look like face on. 
That''s funny Jase but a hint of truth there. I am fast becoming a Milky Way specialist!
