The Southern Ophiuchus Milky Way

[Nightfly]

This image is part of an ongoing effort to capture Selected Regions of the Milky Way, a project using analog techniques to duplicate, in part, the efforts of the great Edward Emerson Barnard. This image of the dark nebulae in southern Ophiuchus was taken on the late evening of July 10th.

I noted above average transparency, but my SQM readings were somewhat brighter than average at 21.3 at the beginning of the exposure to 21.46 near the end. Fog rolled in shortly after this exposure was completed.

The analog capture utilized the Pentax 67 camera with the 300mm f/4 SMC Takumar @ f/5.6 and 60 minutes exposure on Fuji Acros 100. Processing was done in Kodak Xtol chemistry. The resulting negative was scanned on an Epson V600 with file imported into Photoshop for post processing.

Thank you for looking!

Jim

[bri]

havn't seen mw shots as rich as this. fantastic

[farunj]

Wow!! That's awesome!!

[nightvision]

That is superb! Brings back memories of using E6 chemicals, I miss using transparencies, is Fuji Acros 100 negative film better than using a good transparency film?.

[TC_Fenua]

Very very nice image, you can even see Barnard 72 ( Snake nebula ) ! Well done !

[laser_jock99]

Another great shot Jim- Ophiuchus is a great area of sky and frequently overlooked due to it's low elevation in th UK.

[fatwoul]

I love your emulsion stuff, Jim. How do you rate the V600? We have V700s at work, but I've seen some 600s going for cheap, and I'm considering it.

[Nightfly]

That is superb! Brings back memories of using E6 chemicals, I miss using transparencies, is Fuji Acros 100 negative film better than using a good transparency film?.

With Fuji Acros I can get tighter star images versus chrome films. The dynamic range is better as well. For color work,Superia 100 (no longer available) produced tiny star images. Kodak E200 was wonderful color, but halation prevented star images from looking like salt spilt on black velvet.

[Nightfly]

Another great shot Jim- Ophiuchus is a great area of sky and frequently overlooked due to it's low elevation in th UK.

Thanks. I hear from folks in my area that complain of it being low. I got a pretty good southerly view. That helps. If you have to find the right spot to see it, it is well worth the trip. Such an awesome (in the true sense of the word) area.

[Nightfly]

I love your emulsion stuff, Jim. How do you rate the V600? We have V700s at work, but I've seen some 600s going for cheap, and I'm considering it.

The V700 should be better than what I got. If you are scanning 35mm I would go for one of the Plustek units. If you need 120 capability, the V600 will do a respectable job with prints near 16x20. The workflow is different, but film still works. Jump in!

[fatwoul]

Thanks Jim, that's helpful. :-)

[Tom OD]

Lovely job and such a huge FOV. Barnard would be proud of you.

Tom.

[Gina]

Brilliant - as usual

[Nightfly]

Thanks Tom. There is a kindred spirit I feel with Barnard. We all have it to some degree.

Gina, as usual you are too kind!

Thank everyone. Glad to share the image.

[Gina]

Thanks Tom. There is a kindred spirit I feel with Barnard. We all have it to some degree.

Gina, as usual you are too kind!

I'm just speaking as I find I love looking at your images - so much detail

Thank everyone. Glad to share the image.

And thank you for sharing.