Antares, M4 and NGC6144

[iceman (Mike)]

Hi all

This image was taken this morning, from about 12:30am to 3:30am. I didn't really have any targets in mind and since the Moon was rising at about 3am I couldn't target anything in Sagittarius, and I have no view to the North, West or South-West from where I setup.

So I drift aligned before bed, got an hour or so of sleep and got up to target Antares, M4 and NGC6144. It was about 40 deg altitude when I started and the few first frames had a horrible red cast to the background, whereas the last few frames were much better. Really goes to show how much low altitude and light pollution can ruin frames.

I setup the automated run and went back to bed, and woke up again at 4am to take the flats and pack everything away and begin the processing.

So here's the image.

I was actually surprised by the nebulosity that really only came out after stacking - of course it makes sense now when I think about that whole region but didn't think about it at the time. Had I known, maybe I would've composed it slightly differently but I'm still happy with the composition of Antares, M4 and NGC6144. Obviously needs a much wider FOV to capture the rest of the Rho Ophiucus region.

Attached is an 800px wide small version - please see the large version at the page below, and click on the image to see the large size.

Antares, M4 and NGC6144

I'm pretty happy with the image but really needs a dark sky and more exposures to bring out more colour.

I'll probably have another go at this with just the camera and lens to take in the whole region, at the South Pacific Star Party this weekend.

Thanks for reading/looking.

[jakob]

Very nice Mike.
I love watching your work while having Breakfeast!

When do you sleep?

[Zuts]

Nice result Mike,

It's great to see Scorpio coming back. All those objects in the one frame make for a very interesting and enjoyable photo.

Paul

[leon]

Nice image Mike, gee your game to go back to bed and let it run on it's own, yea, I know I considered it once, but backed out of that idea.

Leon

[davidpretorius]

you have been a busy DSO boy!!!

cmon Jupiter, bring him back to the true astronomy!

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Ah Grasshopper. How far you have come.


You leave him alone DavidP. He's doing just fine where he is!

[iceman (Mike)]

Originally Posted by jakob

Very nice Mike.
I love watching your work while having Breakfeast!

When do you sleep?

heh thanks Jakob, I didn't get much sleep on that night, was a bit of a zombie yawning all day in meetings I put myself in a self-imposed exile for last night and tonight leading up to SPSP - I need some sleep in reserve!

Originally Posted by Zuts

Nice result Mike,

It's great to see Scorpio coming back. All those objects in the one frame make for a very interesting and enjoyable photo.

Paul

Thanks Paul - i'm really looking forward to all the targets in Scorpius. It's always exciting when you get to image a new object for the first time.

Originally Posted by leon

Nice image Mike, gee your game to go back to bed and let it run on it's own, yea, I know I considered it once, but backed out of that idea.

Leon

I'm not too worried about leaving it unattended.. what's the worst that can happen? Rain? yeh ok, but it wasn't gonna rain A few ruined exposures, no big deal. I need some sleep too So far the unattended sessions have performed very well although I lost 8 exposures of M104 due to the tree, but me being out there wasn't going to stop that either.

Originally Posted by davidpretorius

you have been a busy DSO boy!!!

cmon Jupiter, bring him back to the true astronomy!

I'm not lost to the true astronomy - luckily at the moment I don't need to make a choice - DSO earlier in the night, planetary before dawn. When Jupiter gets higher, when the seeing is good it will always win

Originally Posted by [1ponders]

Ah Grasshopper. How far you have come.


You leave him alone DavidP. He's doing just fine where he is!

Thanks Paul - I feel i've got a fairly good grasp on the processing of DSO images finally.

I've also been taking my images at ISO400 lately so they're smoother and less noisy. But I can really only do 5 minute exposures (max) from home due to LP - will have to longer subs at the dark skies.

Thanks again for your comments.

[h0ughy (David)]

nice image Mike - hope you get a better one at SPSP