Hydrogen-Alpha study of the Horsehead Nebula
A Hydrogen-Alpha (Hα) study of IC 434, a bright emission nebula in the constellation Orion. The Horsehead Nebula (also known as Barnard 33) is a dark nebula silhouetted against IC 434.
The red glow originates from Hydrogen gas predominantly behind the nebula, ionized by the nearby bright star Sigma Orionis. Magnetic fields channel the gases leaving the nebula into streams, shown as streaks in the background glow. A glowing strip of hydrogen gas marks the edge of the massive cloud.
The background story:
I was fortunate enough to get a little bit of precious Telescope imaging time at an Observatory with the kind of Astrophotography gear that I can only dream about. We decided that the name of the Observatory and gear would remain secret, as it is of no importance for my personal research.
There was not enough time to do justice to a spectacular exotic Deep Sky Object (DSO), so I decided to do a practical test of a very well-known DSO (for purposes of comparison in the little time I had).
I chose to image in 3nm Hydrogen-Alpha Narrowband (at the wavelength of 656.3 nm). I did star removal during image processing, as I was interested in the detail that one could capture in the Hydrogen emission of the nebula (in a relatively short amount of time, in near perfect weather conditions with great equipment).
The short answer: Yes, there is a huge leap in imaging quality, but it comes at a price!
A quick calculation puts the difference in price between Amateur Astronomy and Scientific grade equipment at roughly 10-20 times the cost. I thought it would be a worthwhile experiment to see how much quality difference there was, when using "top of the range" Astronomical equipment (that one would probably only be able to afford if you received Scientific funding).
Who knows, one can always dream...
Flickr Explore:
Photo usage and Copyright:
Medium-resolution photograph licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Terms (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). For High-resolution Royalty Free (RF) licensing, contact me via my site: Contact.
Martin
-
[Home Page] [Photography Showcase] [eBook] [Twitter]
[Facebook] [3D VFX & Mocap] [Science & Physics Page]
Hydrogen-Alpha study of the Horsehead Nebula
A Hydrogen-Alpha (Hα) study of IC 434, a bright emission nebula in the constellation Orion. The Horsehead Nebula (also known as Barnard 33) is a dark nebula silhouetted against IC 434.
The red glow originates from Hydrogen gas predominantly behind the nebula, ionized by the nearby bright star Sigma Orionis. Magnetic fields channel the gases leaving the nebula into streams, shown as streaks in the background glow. A glowing strip of hydrogen gas marks the edge of the massive cloud.
The background story:
I was fortunate enough to get a little bit of precious Telescope imaging time at an Observatory with the kind of Astrophotography gear that I can only dream about. We decided that the name of the Observatory and gear would remain secret, as it is of no importance for my personal research.
There was not enough time to do justice to a spectacular exotic Deep Sky Object (DSO), so I decided to do a practical test of a very well-known DSO (for purposes of comparison in the little time I had).
I chose to image in 3nm Hydrogen-Alpha Narrowband (at the wavelength of 656.3 nm). I did star removal during image processing, as I was interested in the detail that one could capture in the Hydrogen emission of the nebula (in a relatively short amount of time, in near perfect weather conditions with great equipment).
The short answer: Yes, there is a huge leap in imaging quality, but it comes at a price!
A quick calculation puts the difference in price between Amateur Astronomy and Scientific grade equipment at roughly 10-20 times the cost. I thought it would be a worthwhile experiment to see how much quality difference there was, when using "top of the range" Astronomical equipment (that one would probably only be able to afford if you received Scientific funding).
Who knows, one can always dream...
Flickr Explore:
Photo usage and Copyright:
Medium-resolution photograph licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Terms (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). For High-resolution Royalty Free (RF) licensing, contact me via my site: Contact.
Martin
-
[Home Page] [Photography Showcase] [eBook] [Twitter]
[Facebook] [3D VFX & Mocap] [Science & Physics Page]