M42, new and improved by jared99
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Description
Got a much better shot of M42/M43, so I'm posting it and deleting the old one.
Several people have asked about the equipment used for the shot, so here's a shot of the telescope(s). The smaller black scope on top was used for my moon and sun shots. The larger telescope was used for this shot of M42, while the smaller scope was used simultaneously to guide the large scope to correct for tracking errors during the relatively long 6 minute exposure (long for a DSLR anyway, especially a D100).
The picture of the telescopes is so red because I used a "traditional" red star-gazing flashlight to illuminate the scene. The red flashlight is common among star-gazers because it helps preserve the dark adaptation of the eye, but still allows you to see so you don't go around bonking into things.
Nikon D100, 6 minute exposure at ISO200. The temperature outside was below freezing, so the camera had a little less noise than usual which allowed for the longer exposure. To help the camera cool down to outside temperature faster, I stick it in the freezer (in a sealed bag) for an hour or two prior to shooting. Kind of a cheesy "cooled CCD" approach.
Thanks for viewing!
Comments (18)
morin3000
Very beautiful capture of nebula M 42! We are both of the fanatics of astronomy Tres beautiful work my friend, and a quite beautiful gallery! Hope to be re-examined!V
jophoto
Wow...very impressive shot! Are you manually tracking the nebula while the exposure is taking place? How does that work?
jared99
Yes - manual tracking was used. Just point the smaller scope at a star at very high power and use an eyepiece with a "target" or cross-hair reticle. As the star drifts around in the eyepiece, you make very small corrections to keep it centered. Because a very high power is used for the guide scope and a very low power used for the imaging scope, the motion of the highly-magnified star is exaggerated compared to the motion of the low-power image being photographed. If the star is kept centered very carefully, the movement of the image on the CCD is small enough to prevent motion blur.
tizjezzme
Amazing ... totally amazing. I once came across a photographer like yourself, online, and he showed his equipment, too ... he set his up in his tiny little suburban backyard, on a pallet floor, mounted inside a tin garden shed. I am so thrilled to find you here; you must go into my favs; as I wanna keep up with your images and techniques you use. Simply amazing ... don't know what else to call it ... Thank you for the IM, and directing me here to your gallery once again.
MaydaMason
a telescope is one of the object that i'll request to santa for this christmas... :) but i'm very confused... what kind of telescope is this? i've read something about them... what is an optimal focal lenght? 300? 1000?... what kind of accessories need i to make shots like this? sorry for all this questions... but your're the first user that i see makin' sky shots... and your KNOW for sure! :)
Onslow
Superbly done and a superb result !!!!!!
sailor_ed
Manual tracking? I would not have thought it possible! Very nice shot.
Nightwright
OMG! This is simply fantastic! I'm always fascinated by space pictures, but I couldn't imagine how they were made ... till now. It is very interesting!!!
glennn23
Good work once again... and thanks for the continuing education on how this fascinating process occurs. Excellente!
wingnut55
amazing shot,looking forward to seeing more.
jcv2
Incredible work, and manual tracking is new for me! Fantastic to see your equipment and the results, stunning captures! :)
jared99
To clarify -- the scope does track automatically, but no matter how careful the alignment, drift errors occur. The drift correction is what's done manually.
cynlee
awesome photo & color captured.. thanks for showing the telescope too! :]
meselfr
excellent pic... your astronomy photos are top notch..
Hidinthesierras
Very interesting, indeed! I appreciate you taking the time to explain how you got this amazing shot! I have allways found this kind of stuff to be so cool!I think I am going to have to put this one in my favs! 8-)
tibet2004uk
Impressive and gorgeous shot!!
PhrankPower
When you think exactly how far away this really is how much real estate is between here and there, it dwarfs absolutely everything, including our own silly problems! Fen amazing!
tommorules
Impressive result if this is a single exposure and very interesting info about the manual guiding.