Orion M42

The great Orion Nebula (M42) and the Running Man Nebula (NGC1977) in Orion. Not bad for a 60% moonlit night on the Summer Solstice here in the southern hemisphere. This was one hour of light capture followed by too many hours of image processing in my new favourite app, Siril.

Starry Ficus

A fig tree on the Maleny Trail under the stars. You can just make out the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, Canopus and Orion among the bright sky of a half moon.

Camping At Home

Since we are staying at home to isolate and flatten the curve, one may as well camp at home too. Here, the tent is pitched under the watchful view of Orion the hunter.

Rise, Orion

Orion and the Plieades rise in the evening sky of early Summer in Australia's outback.

Orion Tree

A tree stands under the sky at Rigby Falls on a moonlit night near Mount Isa while the stars of Orion pass overhead.

Horsehead Nebula

Another reprocessed image.  This time it was my long attempted target of the Horsehead nebula, Barnard 33 in Orion (Original here).  Again the raw files were developed before processing and stacking. The improvements can be seen mainly in the more accurate colour reproduction and reduced blooming of the bright stars.  

Star Trails

Some star trails looking south from near Tromso. You can see the bright light of Jupiter top left, and the constellation of Orion is bottom right of centre, just scraping along the horizon. The trails appear almost horizontal at this point due to the unique geometry of spherical globes.

Orion The Hunter

Orion the hunter sets over Battle Mountain. Also known as the canoe to some Indigenous cultures of  northern Australia. The hunter appears to stand guardian over the mountain below. In a modern interpretation, the belt and sword of Orion could be seen as a giant mouse pointer in the sky

A Universe At The Front Gate

This photo was taken from the front gate near the kerb at my home. You can see brightest Jupiter near centre and some stars of the belt of Orion up higher between the cloud. It was taken with my new favourite low light lens, a Tokina 11-16mm f2.8. It is a very sweet lens for astronomical targets.

Astronomical

An astronomical gathering. From left to right are the Seven Sisters (Plieades), bright Jupiter, Taurus (with reddish Aldebaren) and Orion. A wonderful sight under a clear sky.

Orion Nebula

The Orion nebula, M42, as seen from Mount Isa in a 60mm refractor.

Orion Rising

Orion rises over a small observatory at Beerwah.  Taurus is also visible to the left (north) of Orion.

Star Trails

The tales a star would tell from its trails.  This is the Orion nebula (red glow, centre) as it moves across the field of view.  I finally got the chance to put my DSLR onto the telescope and this was the result.  Two minutes at f6, 360mm TeleVue.

Orion Reprocessed

This is a newly reprocessed image taken back in March of 2010. I think you'll agree it has some nicer details than this image last year.

Hunter On The Isa

Orion the hunter soars in the sky over Mount Isa.

Orion

Last weekend we got some clear skies and headed out to the astronomy club for some viewing and photography. We used my Televue 60 and a friend's unmodified Canon 450D to catch some photons. This was one of the results of stacking a few 30 second exposures.

Orion

The easily recognisable constellation of Orion the hunter. Even from my front yard the sky was dark enough to take this photo - untracked. If you look closely you will see the slight star trails. This is a 15 second exposure.