M1 C11/EOS

[darditti]

This is my stab at the Crab with the EOS350D/C11/Celestron LP filter combo.

I have aimed at a natural, non-too-processed look. The colours are similar to the picture on the front of a book I have In the Centre of Immensities by Bernard Lovell, pub. 1978. That pic was taken by the Hale 200" on film. I think mine compares OK considering I didn't go up any mountains.

I had problems with a coloured gradient across this, probably due to LP, hence the cropping, but it is still there slightly.

David

[661-pete]

Lovely Crab, as you say very 'natural' feel to it. Again must have been done under very trying circumstances. Not one I've attempted - haven't been in France at the right time of year...

You say a gradient; my contrasty Sony monitor here is a devil for showing up other people's gradients in their images but I can't see any in yours - well hardly any. Good job done there!

Edit: just noticed your remark about comparing it with the Hale version from 1978. I reckon M1 will have 'grown' somewhat since then - can you see any signs of expansion?

[legion48]

That look lovely to me.

[Jamie]

Now that looks like something out of an old Star Trek episode....

Nice one David....

[darditti]

Expansion since 1978? Maybe...

At the lower edge of the nebula (as presented here) there is a thickish red tendril adjacent to a bright star vertically below the central one. In the 1978 image this tendril does not appear to have reached that star.

However, it is very hard to say for certain. There is so much dependence on the processing and the response of the detector/film. Really you would need to take images with the same equipment in the same way on two occasions 30 years apart! I'll try that, however, in 30 years time streetlights will probably have been banned due to the energy waste, and vehicles will be finding their own way around via nightvision and robotic control, so I won't have the same conditions!

David

[Psychobilly]

Very nice and Natural processing Dave

Hope you dont mind I just used Gradientexterminator to knock out the colour gradients

(click to enlarge)

Billy...

[661-pete]

I couldn't find the 1978 image, but I have an old astro book (one of PM's) dating from 1960 which has a 200" (monochrome) M1 in it, evidently dating from the 1950s. The difference is quite noticeable there. For instance, the two bright stars close together, below the centre of the nebula and just on its edge, stand well away from the nebulosity in the 1950s image.

But it's not easy to compare: the 200" images in that book, as well as being strictly monochrome, look poor quality compared with modern-day amateur images taken with 1/20th of the aperture! You really have to compare like with like. Maybe you'll have to wait till 2038 as you suggest! If street lighting really has been banned by then (some hope!) you could always seek out some museum or other, where historic streetlighting of the 2000's is preserved as an ancient relic.... I can't offer much help to you then, even if I'm spared I shall be 88...

[Edit] just did a bit of googling...