Like many, I remember seeing the 3 star Belt Of Orion in the night sky ever since I was a little kid. After all, it's one the most recognizable constellations in the night sky. And for me, hearing stories about the giant hunter and his dog Sirius (the brightest star in the night sky) chasing after the seven sisters added even more interest. This super-wide image brings together several of the winter gems of Orion: the Orion Nebula, Running Man Nebula, Flame Nebula, Dark Horse Nebula, and a ton of dust clouds connecting them together.
As many of you know, I've been shooting telescope pictures remotely using iTelescope.net's equipment and when I heard about their new super-wide T80 telescope in Spain, I was curious. It turns out, this telescope has a (big) 26mp cmos camera paired up with the super-wide lens, running under dark skies in the northern hemisphere - features that work well with Orion. I think the narrowband exposures (especially Hydrogen-Alpha) worked well with Orion in revealing more of the details in the dust clouds. After capturing, I processed my calibrated fit images with Astro Pixel Processor, Photoshop, Star Xterminator, Topaz Sharpen and DeNoise AI with StarSpikesPro on the 3 stars in Orion's Belt.
Exposure Settings
• 40 exposures (3 minutes each)
○ Luminance: 10
○ Red: 5
○ Green: 5
○ Blue: 5
○ Hydrogen-Alpha: 5
○ Sulphur: 5
○ Oxygen: 5
• Total Exposure Time: 120 minutes
Telescope Optics & Camera
• Optics: Samyang 135mm f/2.0 ED UMC
• Focal Length: 135 mm
• Mount: Paramount MyT
• CCD: ASI2600MM - 26 mb
• Observatory Location: E-Eye Fregenal de la Sierra, Spain
Tags: Astronomy Belt Belt And Sword Belt Of Orion CMOS Diffuse Nebula Dust Dust Clouds Flame Nebula Great Orion Nebula Horsehead Nebula M42 M78 Milky Way Narrowband Nature Nebula Nebulae Orion Orion Nebula Orion The Hunter Orion's Belt Reflection Nebula Samyang 135mm f/2.0 Spain Stars Super Wide Field Sword T80 Telescope The Hunter de Mairan's Nebula iTelescope.net
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I had no problem finding Lady Liberty in this nightscape of nebula clouds. Of course, it was easy for me to find it with a modern telescope. Imagine discovering the Statue Of Liberty Nebula way back in 1834 with equipment from almost 200 years ago. They had no star map software and no powerful telescopes… and certainly no ability to shoot pictures remotely while sleeping on the other side of the world. :-)
Calibrated images of Lady Liberty were provided by iTelescope.net. In addition to providing access to their telescopes, iTelescope.net provides subscribing members with a combination of premium image sets (with the rights to use & post them) and webinars that show how to process them. Itelescope.net captured the images using their one of their telescopes based in the southern hemisphere (either Australia or Chile). I'm sorry I don't recall which one this came from. Regardless, after capturing, I handled the post-processing side with Astro Pixel Processor, Photoshop, Star Xterminator, Topaz Sharpen and DeNoise AI.
Tags: Astronomy Astrophotography Carina NGC 3576 Nature Nebula Nebula Clouds Nebulae Premium Image Set RGB Southern Hemisphere Southern Milky Way Stars Statue of Liberty Nebula Telescope Water iTelescope.net
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Some astronomy images leave me wondering if I can actually find the object (named in the title) in the picture. Like finding objects in clouds in our daytime skies, objects in astronomy pictures are sometimes easy to find and sometimes not. Admittedly, my first view of images from this scene gave me a similar feeling - I guessed because of the thick field of stars. So in processing, I removed the stars and BAM! There were the dragons and the egg they were fighting over.
Calibrated images of the Fighting Dragons of Ara and the Dragon's Egg Nebula were provided by iTelescope.net. In addition to providing access to their telescopes, iTelescope.net provides subscribing members with a combination of premium image sets (with the rights to use & post them) and webinars that show how to process them. Itelescope.net captured the images using their T71 telescope based in the Rio Hurtado Valley, Chile. This was especially helpful because the Dragons of Ara are visible in the Southern Hemisphere where I live in Colorado. After capturing, I handled the post-processing side with Astro Pixel Processor, Photoshop, Star Xterminator, Topaz Sharpen and DeNoise AI.
Tags: Astro Pixel Processor Astronomy Australia Chile Clouds Clouds Only Dragon's Egg Dragon's Egg Nebula Dragons Emission Nebula Fighting Dragons of Ara Galaxy LRGB Milky Way NGC 6164 NGC 6188 No Stars Rim Nebula Southern Hemisphere Star Forming Nebula Star Xterminator T71 Takahashi Epsilon 180 Telescope Work of Art Young Stars
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These glowing filaments and wispy tendrils of the Vela Supernova Remnant are all that remains of a star much like our sun. It once glowed bright and provided warmth to worlds like our earth. And then at the end of its life, the star went supernova and destroyed worlds - leaving a tapestry of colors and shapes behind.
Calibrated images of the Vela Supernova Remnant were provided by iTelescope.net. In addition to providing access to their telescopes, iTelescope.net provides subscribing members with a combination of premium image sets (with the rights to use & post them) and webinars that show how to process them. Itelescope.net captured the images using their T10 telescope based in the Siding Spring Observatory in New South Wales, Australia. I handled the post-processing side with Astro Pixel Processor, Photoshop, Star Xterminator, Star Spikes Pro, Topaz Sharpen and DeNoise AI.
Tags: Apochromatic Refractor Astro Pixel Processor Astronomy Australia Death Explosion Mosaic Nature Nova Remnant Siding Spring Observatory Star Star XTerminator Supernova T10 Takahashi TOA-130 Telescope Vela Vela Pulsar Vela Supernova Remnant iTelescope.net
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The Lagoon Nebula is one of the brightest nebulae in the night sky - bright enough for some people to see with the naked eye as a hazy patch in the sky. Around 5,000 light years from earth, this giant interstellar cloud is a nursery for young stars. These baby stars heat up the nebula gas so much that it emits light - light we can see. We may not see much with our naked eye but with a little help and a little patience, we can see a whole lot more.
Calibrated images of the Lagoon Nebula were provided by iTelescope.net. In addition to providing access to their telescopes, iTelescope.net provides subscribing members with a combination of premium image sets (with the rights to use & post them) and webinars that show how to process them. Itelescope.net captured the images using their T71 telescope based in the dark skies of Chile. I handled the post-processing side with Astro Pixel Processor, Photoshop, Star Xterminator, and Topaz Sharpen and DeNoise AI.
Tags: Astro Pixel Processor Astronomy Chile Deep Field Diffuse Nebula Emission Nebula Galaxy Hot Gas Hourglass Nebula Lagoon Nebula M8 Messier 8 Milky Way Nature Nebula Nebula Clouds Nebulae Sagittarius Star Cluster Star Exterminator Star XTerminator T71 Takahashi Epsilon 180ED Telescope Young Stars iTelescope.net
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