The Orion Nebula, aka Messier 42, at centre, with the blue Running Man Nebula (NGC 1973-5-7) above it. The smaller nebula attached to the top edge of M42 is M43. The blue star cluster at top above the Running Man is NGC 1981; the loose star cluster below M42 is NGC 1980. This is a stack of 8 x 5-minute exposures with the Canon EOS Ra mirrorless camera at ISO 800 unfiltered, blended with a stack of 6 x 8-minute exposures at ISO 1600 but through the dual-band Optolong L-Enhance filter that records the faint red nebulosity very well. Blending and masking the filtered with the unfiltered shots allows the faint red nebulosity to come through while retaining the blues, magentas and even subtle greens of the bright nebulosity and the blue of the hot stars as recorded by the “white-light” images. These two sets of long exposures are blended using luminosity masks with a set of 6 x 60-second exposures and 4 x 30-second exposures, both at ISO 400, for recording the bright core of M42 with its Trapezium stars that would otherwise be overexposed into a bright mass with only long exposures. The short exposures were all unfiltered. I applied a high-pass sharpening filter to snap up contrast in the dark lanes. All were through the SharpStar HNT150 Hyperbolic Newtonian Astrograph at its native fast focal ratio of f/2.8. for a focal length of 420mm. Taken from home January 28, 2020. All stacked, aligned and blended in Photoshop 2020. PS’s Auto-Align function aligned all 24 images in one fell swoop in less than a minute.
Orion rising over mountains, as in the Robert Frost poem “The Star-Splitter.” Orion is coming up over the Peloncillo Mountains in New Mexico with Taurus above him. This is a stack of 4 x 90 second exposures with the 35mm lens at f/2.2 and Canon 6D at ISO 1000, plus a stack of 2 exposures, same specs, with the Kenko Softon filter to add the star glows, with the ground coming from one image to minimize blurring. All shots taken with the iOptron Sky-Tracker. Shot from the Quailway Cottage near Portal, Arizona.
A 360° panorama of the OzSky Star Safari 2014, at the Warrumbungles Mountain Motel near Coonabarabran, NSW, Australia, taken April 1 2014. The centre of the Galaxy area in Scorpius and Sagittarius is rising just left of centre (east); the Southern Cross and Carina Nebula area is at the peak of the arch of the Milky Way, at their highest for the night (south); Canis Major is setting at right (west). The Magellanic Clouds are above the trees at centre. At upper left is Mars, a week away from opposition. The Gegenschein is visible as a diffuse glow just left of Mars, the brightest part of the Zodiacal Band which runs from the Milky Way and Antares up tp Mars then off the frame at upper left. The Dark Emu figure made of dark clouds in the Milky Way is almost all above the horizon with his head in the Coal Sack at top centre, and his neck and bodt running down the Milky Way to the left toward the horizon. This is a 6-section panorama with the Canon 60Da at ISO 3200 and 60 second exposures, untracked, with the 8mm fish-eye lens at f/3.5. Lighting and movement between segments produces some blending issues. But PTGui spliced the frames together very well and effortlessly. Taken after it had clouded over for a time then cleared, so some scopes had been covered up.
