Rho ophiuchi from cuckmere haven

alan72

alan72

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Alan
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Friday night down at Cuckmere Haven beach. 20 minutes tracking the core and Rho Ophiuchi over the sea. The thin skin of cloud wasn’t really evident until I got the images together at the end and started to process the stack. Still I like this image and the clouds make it a bit easier to get a realistic blend sometimes I think.

I wish I had spent longer on the sky with hindsight. I had shot an arch over the beach before this and wanted to try a different spot for a second shot on the core but really should have spent longer here. Especially as my next composition and re-alignment of the tracker didn’t work!!!

Canon 6D mkii Astro modified, sky adventurer 2, Tamron 24-70mm f2.8 @50mm. Iso 1600 20x1 minute tracked exposures for the sky and 3 for the foreground untracked, and as per my other post, keeping live view off after focussing did seem to eliminate the annoying patch of sensor noise that had been frustrating me the previous week.

Processed in deep sky stacker and photoshop. I also did some searching for guidance on how to process rho ophiuchi, my astro processing is still very basic as I don't do much beyond standard milky way shots very often. I found a video with a link to Starnet++ for star removal so used this for a starless layer. The interface is as basic as it gets and took me back to Windows 3.11!!! but it did a great job of removing the stars so I could focus on the nebulosity, and then blend the starry layer back in. I quite like the result, not too difficult to use and I'll use it again. I find star removal in photoshop to be a pain and it never gives me what I want really.

Rho ophiuchi over cuckmere haven by Alan, on Flickr
 
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LeeRatters said:
Nice. Admittedly I've never tried anything like that. I always then to go for slightly wider shots or panoramas.
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Thanks Lee, I’ve always enjoyed wide shots and love taking Milky Way panoramas in fact that was the first thing I shot on Friday night. But I’ve really got into enjoying these slightly longer focal length shots with more focus on the core areas over the landscape.
 
alan72 said:
Thanks Lee, I’ve always enjoyed wide shots and love taking Milky Way panoramas in fact that was the first thing I shot on Friday night. But I’ve really got into enjoying these slightly longer focal length shots with more focus on the core areas over the landscape.
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It is something I want to try. I went out Saturday with a few mates to a local spot I've shot several times. I just went as I wanted to try a panorama there, something I've always thought about giving a go. I did think about an 85mm shot but the trouble at this place is that the core area is in the same direction as a radio mast with those red lights up it so.... Not ideal. I did shoot the pano though :) So all wasn't lost.

I think your type of shot above is one for a south coast trip looking out over the sea.
 
That is very nice indeed. You have done incredibly well to capture Rho especially given our longitude. As far as I understand it only really appears near the horizon as in your shot and quite hard to pick up.
 
Excellent work, very impressive :)
 
nandbytes said:
That is very nice indeed. You have done incredibly well to capture Rho especially given our longitude. As far as I understand it only really appears near the horizon as in your shot and quite hard to pick up.
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Yes, that is about as high as it gets!! In the second half of the year it’s already past the zenith and even lower by the time it gets dark. I really want to do more on it but seem to only get one or 2 attempts each year. Oh to live in the southern hemisphere!!!
 
alan72 said:
Yes, that is about as high as it gets!! In the second half of the year it’s already past the zenith and even lower by the time it gets dark. I really want to do more on it but seem to only get one or 2 attempts each year. Oh to live in the southern hemisphere!!!
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I don't think you need to be quite as low as southern hemisphere but being lower than 52degrees North certainly helps :D
 
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Impressive image, for saying it's from the UK.

I've been trying to image this for years, but all the data being so low on the horizon, it's been an exercise in futility. At my latitude, it's way too much atmosphere to shoot through.

So, I'm headed to the canaries in a couple of months for far more favourable skies!
 
It's beautiful and made me wish I never sold my star adventurer 2i now. I love the choice of foreground too, I'm very envious of your image .
I tend to use starnett ++2 and as you say makes processing the nebulousity so much easier with blowing the stars out.
Superb job

Lee
 
Oatbar said:
Impressive image, for saying it's from the UK.

I've been trying to image this for years, but all the data being so low on the horizon, it's been an exercise in futility. At my latitude, it's way too much atmosphere to shoot through.

So, I'm headed to the canaries in a couple of months for far more favourable skies!
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I’d love to get out and shoot in the canaries. On my bucket list to maybe try next year! Hope you get something good!
 
Fantastic photograph, I really wish I knew how to do these.
 
fantastic image, very well done, not a subject or type of photography I have spent any time on - although down here in S france the sky is awesome at night, I may have to see what if anything i can do - on an aside I noted this 'cloud complex' was featured in the BBC news in regards to the James Webb telescope - they have the advantage of extremely large amounts of money / very, very expensive kit and no atmosphere to get in the way ! - https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-66179323
 
Rincewind said:
fantastic image, very well done, not a subject or type of photography I have spent any time on - although down here in S france the sky is awesome at night, I may have to see what if anything i can do - on an aside I noted this 'cloud complex' was featured in the BBC news in regards to the James Webb telescope - they have the advantage of extremely large amounts of money / very, very expensive kit and no atmosphere to get in the way ! - https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-66179323
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Yes I saw that, a nice piece of kit if you have a few billion!!! But they did take a lovely image! It’s a shame we get so little time with it here, even in the south of the uk.
 
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