Astrophotograph...

[David Pavlich]

First, to the moderators, if this is inappropriate for EAA, then you can delete it. I'm a moderator at a couple of sites, so I know what your job entails.

Anyway, this is my present hobby, astrophotography. This image is the Orion Nebula, located, as if you didn't know, in the constellation Orion. I'm sure that the vast majority know the constellation. It is up right now about 2 hours after dark. The nebula lies about 1350 light years distant and is the closest star birthing region to Earth. The image is composed of mostly hydrogen gas, the redish stuff, and dust and other gases. It was taken with a TEC140 apochromatic refractor. The camera is a QHY8 Pro CCD one shot color camera. It's a stack of 16 eight minute exposures that are registered and stacked in a software program designed for astrophotography and then the details are brought out in Photoshop CS5. To the left is another object called The Running Man Nebula.

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1441/7656938/23054145/405232996.jpg

David

[rwanttaja]

Certainly, it's aviation oriented...navigation! "Second star to the right...straight on 'til morning...."

Ron Wanttaja

[Zack Baughman]

It's beautiful David! I hope you will share more!

Zack

[wltrmtty]

That's beautiful. Thanks for sharing and, yes, please share more. What a vast universe we live in.

[David Pavlich]

Thank you for the kind words! I have an 8'X8' rolloff roof observatory in my backyard. My processing skills are still in the making, but it is a lot of fun. The winter is the best time for imaging in the deep south since our skies are much more transparent than our hot, humid and hazey summers. I guess the same could be said for flying! :-) I just checked the 10 day forecast and the Wx looks pretty grim for imaging.

David

[David Pavlich]

Certainly, it's aviation oriented...navigation! "Second star to the right...straight on 'til morning...."

Ron Wanttaja

Ahhhhh, yes, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. "I'd pay good money to shut him up". Bones to Spock while getting the photon torpedo prepared. The movies were all just a little short on acting, but for a Star Trek fan, good fun!

David

[David Pavlich]

Here is one I took a little while ago. It's called the Needle Galaxy, one of my favorite deep space objects. Its official designation is NGC4565. NGC is the acronym for New General Catalog which contains about 7100 objects. This galaxy is about 40 million light years distant. One light year is about 5.5 trillion miles. This is pretty much what our own Milky Way Galaxy would look like edge on.

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1441/7656938/23054145/395697807.jpg

David

[rwanttaja]

Certainly, it's aviation oriented...navigation! "Second star to the right...straight on 'til morning...."Ahhhhh, yes, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
Ah, a pleasure it is to meet another properly-trained science geek. However, I will quibble and point out that the Star Trek movie quote was from ANOTHER famous piece of fiction: Peter Pan.

I've never been into astronomy that much, but when I went to Adult Space Camp ten years ago, they set up telescopes in the park area for us. I was absolutely floored to be able to look at Saturn and see the rings, clear as anything.

It's said that only two types of people look at clouds: Pilots and Children. I suspect you can say the same thing about stars, just substituting "astronomers" for "pilots."
Ron Wanttaja2713

[David Pavlich]

I guess that shows which of the two movies I saw last....and the most times. :D I do look at clouds, but with a lot of disdain due to the fact that nobody has come up with a cloud filter. Sure messes up the telescope time!

David

[Hal Bryan]

This is wonderful stuff, David - astronomy is one of those interests that I've tried to keep at arm's length for much of my life, because I know that if I give it the chance, it'll consume me. So, please keep sharing these images and let me live vicariously through you!



However, I will quibble and point out that the Star Trek movie quote was from ANOTHER famous piece of fiction: Peter Pan.

And don't forget that Kirk also quoted John Masefield, possibly by way of Willy Wonka, when he said "All I ask is a ... tall ship and a... star to steer her by." :)

[Pilawt]

"Only Nixon could go to China ... "

(Those photos are stunning!!)

[David Pavlich]

Well, Hal, I can tell you from experience that it does consume most of us AND once we start talking about it, it's tough to shut us up. Sound familiar? I have several of my images hanging in my shop and really enjoy when I get a question or comment about them. One of our great joys is when our club, the Pontchartrain Astronomy Society, does outreach events. We'll set up scopes at a school or a library or some such place and let people look. It's fun and I get to work on my mediocre public speaking skills.

David