Sunday, January 19, 2014

Rising Moon

You know those really cool pictures people take of the Moon rising behind interesting objects? I've been wanting to do something like that for a while, so I decided to go out and catch some shots of the rising moon from my front yard. The images are nothing spectacular, but there is something special about the Moon when it's low on the horizon...




I also took some quick shots of the Flame and Horsehead Nebulae in Orion while waiting for the Moon to rise. This image is composed from 7 30-second exposures at ISO-6400, and minimally processed in GIMP.


And before the Moon got too bright, I took a few shots of the Double Cluster in Perseus. This is from 12 30-second exposures at ISO-6400, and minimally processed in GIMP.


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4 comments:

  1. Polaris BJanuary 23, 2014 at 11:58 AM

    Spooky.

    One of my goals someday is to shoot the Double Cluster and make the red giants in it easily identifiable, as you have done! Like the Horsehead, too. Gotta love what a camera can help you see!

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    1. RoryGJanuary 23, 2014 at 12:42 PM

      I want to go back and redo the Double Cluster with the astrograph soon. It's been on my to-do list for a long time. This was just a quick-and-dirty imaging session. The focus wasn't even all that great. Plus, I was't using the computer at the time, so I was limited to 30-second exposures unless I opened and closed the shutter manually.

      I like the Horsehead and Flame because one can get impressive results with very little effort. Of course, quality improves proportionally with effort...

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    2. RoryGApril 25, 2019 at 9:20 PM

      Looking back at this image, I realize that chromatic aberration is probably the main reason that the red giants stand out. This image was made with an Orion ShortTube 80, which is an achromat with a crown/flint doublet objective. The colors that I get from the AT72EDII are far less intense, but probably more realistic.

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    3. RoryGApril 25, 2019 at 9:42 PM

      For comparison: First Light - AT72EDII

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