Antares and Rho Ophiuchi Region

[MarkS]

I've waited years to catch this - it's just a bit too low in the sky here in the UK so I took this on a recent trip to France. The extra 5 degrees of altitude and the darker sky both made a big difference.

Taken with the usual Sony A7S and Tak Epsilon combination, it's an 8 piece mosaic, each piece comprising 20 x 30sec at ISO 10000.  It was shot over 2 nights: 23/24 May.  To assemble the mosaic I used a trial version of the new Astro Pixel Processor software and followed the (silent) mosaic tutorial video here: https://www.astropixelprocessor.com/video-tutorials/.  I'm really impressed with the result: it automatically positioned and assembled the 8 pieces seamlessly and with the stars perfectly aligned!  It's the easiest mosaic I've ever processed.

As an added bonus, you might be able to find comet 71P/Clark hidden away in the image  



Larger versions can be found here
http://www.markshelley.co.uk/Astronomy/2017/antares_2017_05_23_medium.jpg
and here
http://www.markshelley.co.uk/Astronomy/2017/antares_2017_05_23_large.jpg

Enjoy!

Mark

[JohnP]

Truly amazing Mark - make sure you send to APOD... Can't see any seams - think I spotted the comet - nice. Love the star cluster & colours - truly awe inspiring - you've got to print this & pin on the wall.. John

[doug]

Absolutely amazing image, Mark. Well done for such a fine capture.

Doug.

[Carole]

Wow, well done Mark, beautiful result.  Personally I would increase the colours a little but each to his own taste. 

A you know I tried this at Cairds with a camera lens, but the results were appalling, so I have tried again in Spain at a higher elevation, but won't know the results until I get home as I don't have Photoshop on my mini laptop.  It won't be a patch on yours as all I could get on the plane was the DSLR and Ioptron Skytracker.

Such a beautiful nebula, shame we can't get it in the UK. 

Carole

[ApophisAstros]

Absolutely stunning Mark , how much time roughly would you say you spent on it?
I can definitely appreciate the work that has gone into this now , more than ever.
Roger

[MarkS]

Truly amazing Mark - make sure you send to APOD... Can't see any seams - think I spotted the comet - nice. Love the star cluster & colours - truly awe inspiring - you've got to print this & pin on the wall.. John

I was beaten to it.  Take a look at this:  https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170527.html
He captured the comet as well in almost exactly the same position.  He was imaging in Spain the very night I was imaging in France!

Annoyingly he hasn't supplied any details of equipment or exposure times.

Absolutely stunning Mark , how much time roughly would you say you spent on it?
I can definitely appreciate the work that has gone into this now , more than ever.
Roger

It took me 3 evenings.  The first evening to stack the 8 pieces and then another couple of evenings to create the mosaic and do all the post processing.  In other words it took many times longer to process the data than to shoot it in the first place!

Mark

[julian]

Very nice Mark.
I think the APOD image colour is over enhanced.

[MarkS]

Very nice Mark.
I think the APOD image colour is over enhanced.

I guess it's very much a question of personal taste.  I prefer the more subtle colours which is why I process my data that way.

Mark

[Hugh]

Well done Mark an absolutely top class picture!  Who needs Hubble?  Well OK, yes we do but this picture makes you wonder.

Whilst the detail is amazing, for me it is all those background stars ~ such a stunner.

Best

Hugh

[JohnP]

I prefer the more subtle colours which is why I process my data that way.

...totally agree with you Mark on this one - I hate astro images where saturation is much too in your face.

[MarkS]

Well done Mark an absolutely top class picture!  Who needs Hubble?  Well OK, yes we do but this picture makes you wonder.

Whilst the detail is amazing, for me it is all those background stars ~ such a stunner.

Best

Hugh

Much appreciated Hugh.

Mark

[MarkS]

I've reprocessed this to improve the colour rendition, to brighten it (bringing out slightly more faint dust) and to increase colour saturation.



I'm finally pleased with it.

Large version here:
http://www.markshelley.co.uk/Astronomy/2017/antares_2017_05_23_v2_large.jpg

Mark

[Carole]

I really like the improved version Mark, it's such a colourful area, it really needs showing off.  The star colours as usual are great and the dark nebula is excellent. 

All in all a great result and despite the long wait, well worth waiting for.

Carole

[MarkS]

I really like the improved version Mark, it's such a colourful area, it really needs showing off.  The star colours as usual are great and the dark nebula is excellent. 

All in all a great result and despite the long wait, well worth waiting for.

Thanks.  Now submitted to a well known astro magazine

Mark

[Carole]

Now submitted to a well known astro magazine

[Mike]

Excellent image Mark and far nicer than the one on APOD.

[The Thing]

Now I've sorted out the colour on my monitors the image is stunning. I am envious of your ability to pull out the dark dust lanes into an almost 3D representation. You are so lucky you can do the subs for each pane of the mosaic in just a few minutes! With an ordinary DSLR or old style CCD it would have taken hours. If that astroporn doesn't make the centrefold picture of the month I'll eat my dewshield (the little paper one on my 35mm lens...)

[JohnP]

If that astroporn doesn't make the centrefold picture of the month I'll eat my dewshield (the little paper one on my 35mm lens...)

Totally agree Dunc... that is a simply stunning image - I seriously think it could elevate itself to APOD

[MarkS]

Thanks so much for your comments, Mike, Duncan, John and Carole.

I'm very happy with this image (not often I say that!) and rank it in the top 3 of my all time favourite images.

Mark

[JohnP]

and rank it in the top 3 of my all time favourite images.

Curious what the other two are.... IFN, Pleiades rank highly for me but then again your horshead & surrounding area was amazing - you've got too many good images to choose from...

[ApophisAstros]

As good if not better than anything i`ve seen, and probably ones i haven`t seen!! online or in any publication!
Roger

[MarkS]

It made "Picture of the Month" in September's Astronomy Now

Mark

[Carole]

Great News, congratulations Mark and well deserved.