What the camera saw...

[ollypenrice]

A bit of fun. Following a comment that the basic outline of Orion was hard to spot in a deep sky image, I thought I'd make an animation to show the difference between Orion visually, at a reasonable site, and then what the camera finds over time.

Maybe it also answers the question, 'Why do astrophotography?'

My first animated GIFF. Good fun - I'll do some more!

Olly

Edited March 29, 2023 by ollypenrice

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Impressive stuff and very instructive. It is indeed staggering how much easier it is to see, e.g., the Horse-Head Nebula than to spot it, even from a dark site as a seasoned observer. Besides, even with something as bright as the sun, certain things are next to impossible at the eyepiece, like this stuff:

Ca-K is essentially invisible to me with my glasses on, and something very deep purple with little or no detail without glasses (too old for 393 nm, I suppose)

[Peter Drew]

Yes, why do astrophotography when someone else can do it for us.     🙂

[symmetal]

That's nicely animated Olly,  and gives a good indication of what they're looking at for the less seasoned observer. 🙂

Alan

[ollypenrice]

15 minutes ago, Peter Drew said:

Yes, why do astrophotography when someone else can do it for us.     🙂

From the man who has made more astronomical items himself than the rest of us put together!

Olly