Attached is a shot I got of IC 434 -- The Horsehead Nebula and NGC 2024 -- The Flame Nebula on December 3, 2005. The image is a Hydrogen Alpha (Ha), Red, Green, and Blue composite of a total of 100 minutes of exposure time. (25 min each 5x5min exposures of HaRG&B). Ha is treated as luminance or white light.

This was taken from my backyard in West Los Angeles, near Marina del Rey. It was a very dry night, and that kept the light pollution affects down.

It was taken with a Televue NP-101 refractor on a CGE mount using an SBIG ST-10 CCD camera.

I hope you enjoy the image! A full sized image is available on my site and a medium sized image is attached to this message.

Clear skies,

--Andy
http://www.obsballona.org/

Attached Images

Horse-051203-0XXHaRGB-03-sm.jpg (127.5 KB, 39 views)

Hi andy welcome to the forum. your photo of the horsehead and flame nebula is great. Thanks

Beautiful! I have got to get a digital camera for my 6" f:8 Astro-Physics.

Pst! Your image is flipped 180 degrees. I have an 11x14 print on the wall right next to me, so it was easy to check.

More nice pictures on your site, too. Very inspiring. I recently moved out to the country where the skies are really dark. I've got a lot to do to the place, but a permanent observatory with a roll-off roof is in my plans.

__________________
The ether of general relativity therefore differs from that of classical mechanics or the special theory of relativity respectively, in so far as it is not 'absolute', but is determined in its locally variable properties by ponderable matter.

Albert Einstein, "On the Ether", 1924

That sounds great turbo, goo luck with that (when you finish, I am coming to your house)

Hey andyschlei, that image is great, and welcom to the BautFourm!

You are right about the 180 degree flip. For some reason, FITS Liberator has been doing that to my images when I read the FITS image into Photoshop.

And thanks for the comments!

--Andy

I wonder if anyone has noticed any discernable changes to the horsehead over these many decades of photos. Personally it is a favorite of mine and I hope he doesn't change into a unicorn or something.

OK, you can tent on the lawn (we live in a tiny log house with only one bedroom). Whitetail deer often sleep on the lawn during the summer, but the bear who lives out back hardly ever comes closer than 100 yards or so, judging from the broken canes in the raspberry and blackberry patches, so unless you insist on taking tasty aromatic foods to bed, you'll be fine.

__________________
The ether of general relativity therefore differs from that of classical mechanics or the special theory of relativity respectively, in so far as it is not 'absolute', but is determined in its locally variable properties by ponderable matter.

Albert Einstein, "On the Ether", 1924

Lovely shot - thanks for sharing, and welcome to the forum!

__________________
Non sunt multiplicanda entia praeter necessitatem.

Amazing pic! That is definitely becoming my wallpaper

Funny thing; it took me quite a while to realize why they call it the horsehead nebula. I always see a dress there.

When you see it visually (you need a large and/or very contrasty telescope and clear skies) the outline of the occluding cloud is definitely more suggestive of a carved knight chess piece or something similar. In deep photos like this, the fine detail takes away some of the brain's interperative "magic". Lots of stuff looks VERY different visually (in shape and extent) when photographed, since our eyes cannot accumulate and integrate EM like film or digital chips. Some younger folks (having grown up with killer HST photos) may never be happy with visual observing, although there is a lot of satisfaction in finding "faint fuzzies" at the limits of your scope's theoretical limits.

__________________
The ether of general relativity therefore differs from that of classical mechanics or the special theory of relativity respectively, in so far as it is not 'absolute', but is determined in its locally variable properties by ponderable matter.

Albert Einstein, "On the Ether", 1924

Thanks to all for the kind comments.

I find that there is nothing as satisfying as seeing a celestial object with my own eyes. Imaging is a lot of fun, but looking directly is better.

I have never been able to see Horsehead visually, but it played a role in my early introduction to astronomy. I always thought (at the age of 10) that the Horsehead nebula was the coolest thing in the sky. I had been given a "department store" telescope for Christmas when I was 11, and I immediately set out to see the Horsehead. Of course with optics so poor that it could barely resolve a star and no knowledge myself about the location of the anything at that age, much less a dim object like the Horsehead, it was a failed mission before it began. But I did try, and in the murky, color-bent optics, I convinced myself that I had seen it.

I have to admit it is more fun today with better optics and a real knowledge of the sky.

--Andy

Gorgeous photo - thanks for sharing it!

__________________
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

Welcome aboard, andyschlei. Marvelous image.