California Nebula and Pleiades, from Kielder

[Andrew*]

I took this right after my Cygnus attempt. I was quite pleased to see a red patch appear on screen, not far from M45, so I framed them together and went for it. It is the rather large California nebula. I have never seen a pic with them together like this and I find they make quite an attractive pairing

I stopped down the f/2.8 lens to f/4.5 and that seemed to perform much better.

Camera: Baader ACF modified Canon 450D

Lens: 50mm f/2.8 Carl Zeiss "Tessar" lens stopped down to f/4.5

Exposure: 39 x 60 seconds

Process: DeepSkyStacker Photoshop.

Mount: HEQ5 pro

***Sorry - put the picture back now***

[Starflyer]

Cracking image Andrew, it looked good on the screen in the caravan but it looks great now

[SpookyKatt]

Very nice image Andrew.

Kathleen

[Dangerous-Dave]

Nice image Andrew

[steppenwolf]

Well taken, Andrew - a good wide field view

[blinky]

Yup, my fav image of the weekend! I really like the framing and with 2 cracking DSO Objects what more do you want!

Well done Andrew!

[Paxo]

Nice widefield Andrew, you don't see these two objects together in the same frame very often.

Steve..

[Andrew*]

Thanks very much fro the comments

I think I might re-visit these guys in a slightly higher f/l.

There was a bit of red light torch spilling into the lens, causing a gradient, which I've attempted to remove.

[barkis]

`Tis a smasher Andrew. A very attractive pairing indeed.

You pulled a Rabbit out of the Hat there mate.

Great job.

Ron.

[Andrew*]

Thanks Ron

Was really a very fortunate orientation I picked - it was totally unplaneed to get the California nebula in as well

[gary1968]

Well done Andrew, its a cracker, you too had your troubles at the weekend but this made it all worth while.......

Gary

[psychobabbler]

Stonking image Andrew, and good to see you again. Reckon it was the sausage sandwich for brekkie that did it!

[RobH]

Very nice widefield Andrew

Cheers

Rob

[Andrew*]

Cheers

Stonking image Andrew, and good to see you again. Reckon it was the sausage sandwich for brekkie that did it!

Thanks mate! Yes, it did a good job indeed! Was a pleasure to see you again.

Gary - absolutely! I was really happy I managed to come back at least with this and the Cygnus result.

Andrew

[Lester]

That's an eyecatching image Andrew, first time I have seen these two objects in the same field. The red of the California nebula is a good contrast to the Pleiades blue.

[dogfish]

Very nice pairing Andrew. Been looking forward to seeing the result after I saw the 'rushes' in the caravan.

Martin

[ollypenrice]

Oh well done! I have never seen this pair appear in the same image before. Great idea.

Olly

[jgs001]

Lovely image Andrew... the red opposite the blue works real well...

[Andrew*]

Thanks guys. The more comments I get about this, the more I feel good about it! They really do make a great pair!

I did some googling on it and found lots of great results, which have inspired me to get some more data on this. The following shot, in particular, shows what can be done with more time - picking out the dust that causes the black snake (in my image) in between the two objects, for example

Credit: California nebula, IC348, and Pleiades with EF85mmF1.2 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Cheers

Andrew

[Taff]

Hi Andrew'' That's a very nice capture of the both.Mark

[MartinB]

Superb wide field, the framing is perfect

[ncjunk]

Your picture is a cracker...enjoyed seeing that.

Neil C

[mikeyscope]

Really stunning image Andrew, you should be proud of this one, the framing is great & love the colour contrast of this pairing.

Good to seak with you at Kielder.

Mike

[Tim]

Very nice shot Andrew, I haven't seen these two together before either. What a nice contrast they are to each other.

[Andrew*]

Thanks for your comments, guys - glad it went down so well .

I've still to do a proper reprocess on this pic - my data's all with Craig at the moment. Perhaps I can pull off a cleaner result next time.

Mike, was a pleasure meeting you again. I much admire the work you do and would love to see some of your captures posted on the forum

Andrew