Posted on 01/16/2012 9:18:55 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Explanation: Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble -- maybe Macbeth should have consulted the Witch Head Nebula. This suggestively shaped reflection nebula is associated with the bright star Rigel in the constellation Orion. More formally known as IC 2118, the Witch Head Nebula glows primarily by light reflected from bright star Rigel, located just below the lower edge of the above image. Fine dust in the nebula reflects the light. The blue color is caused not only by Rigel's blue color but because the dust grains reflect blue light more efficiently than red. The same physical process causes Earth's daytime sky to appear blue, although the scatterers in Earth's atmosphere are molecules of nitrogen and oxygen. The nebula lies about 1000 light-years away.
(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...
Yeah, the name makes no sense to me either, should be called “Casper the Friendly Ghost Nebula” or somethin’.
It’s a side profile of a witches face. Tilt your head right and down to see the witch’s profile.
Wow..... that is a great photo
Thanks bert. Everything went well that night.
Now I have to know. Is the coloration due to you filtering or is it automatic (preset) CG enhancement or you recoloring on a separate program? Cause if that is the real me, I gotta get me one of these.
This explains it better than I.
Color in Astronomical Images
http://www.astropix.com/HTML/I_ASTROP/COLOR.HTM
BTW, in the Veil Nebula shot above, I did not add any color, and basically only performed curves and levels adjustments. I will not over process images, and what ya see there, is basically what the camera saw.
All I did was help bring out the data, which already existed in the raw image.
I believe the image above was a series of 30 images at about 1.5 minute exposures each, then I calibrated, aligned and stacked all the images into what you see.
Thank you very much.
That is one incredible bit of photographic artistry and expertise. My compliments.
BTW, the only filtering I used in the optical train, were an LP filter, used to help reduce light wavelengths such as mercury vapor lights, which will destroy extreme low light astronomical images.
Thanks KC
This might be a dumb question, but is your equipment stand alone? Or are you tethered to a power source and stuck in your backyard?
And is the filtering for direct filtering? Like to stop the light from the streetlight on the corner? Or just light pollution in general?
Not a dumb questions at all. I plug into this below. The light pollution filter I use in the optical train helps eliminate street light emissions in the atmosphere and light pollution in general, including the street light on the road. It's also a cool place to hang out and drink beer.
This is the business end of my scope below.
Notice the twin junkyard plates used to mount the equatorial mount onto the steel pier..This was done for leveling purposes, see the gold colored leveling bolts? Note the camera at left center of the image?
Most of my mounting stuff was salvaged, fabricated, and obtained from junk yards. Works good and is very stable.
Holy crap, can I come over? I’ll bring the beer. What’s the aperture size on that, by the way?
It’s only a 10.
The scope itself is an oldy, about 11 years old now. It’s actually considered a classic. I’ve had to rebuild some of the motors, change out gears, etc. Nowadays there are much better, more imaging friendly instruments, but it’s kind of fun trying to keep it aligned and working. Only problem is imaging and processing the data takes time, and I wished I had more time to devote.
ROFL! That’s great!
You and me both.
Some great stuff out there. Just takes money...And lots of it.
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