Star Trip to Tennant Creek
I started this amazing hobby 8 months ago with a small telescope and a portable star tracker, and the Orion Nebula was the first target I observed. I returned to this target recently with a better imaging system recently and it didn’t disappoint. Longer exposures enabled by the new equipment revealed much finer details and disclosed the beautiful interstellar dust clouds surrounding the region.
It was not easy to acquire the data. It was Darwin's wet season, so I drove 10 hours to the inland outback and stayed a week there. The harsh conditions definitely made it challenging, but the experience was highly rewarding. There were amazing landscapes, fascinating aminals and a gorgeous, gorgeous night sky.
The core might be overexposed but I think that’s the most natural way to present this object. The Orion Nebula was so bright that it appears to be a bright star to our eyes, so I left it to its true visual appearance.
Date: 28 Feb 2022 - Mar 2022
Location: Tennant Creek NT 0860 Australia
Ambient Temperature: 31°C
Equipment and settings:
Telescope: William Optics Zenithstar 81 F6.9 APO Doublet
Camera: Astro Modified Canon 2000D
Mount: Sky-Watcher HEQ5 Pro
Guide Scope: William Optics UniGuide 50mm
Guide Camera: ZWO ASI 120MM
Filter: Nil
Accessories: ASIAir Plus
Settings: 60s ISO 1600
Integration: 500 Lights, 40 Darks, 0 Flats, 60 Bias
Total integration time: 8hr16m
Software: PixInsight, Photoshop, Topaz DeNoise
I took a timelapse during the imaging session, showing how a star tracker counters the Earth’s rotation. The whole sky rotates around the Southern Celestial Pole, and the star tracker rotates with it at the same rate. Though out of focus, one can still make out the tail of the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds; they were especially gorgeous.
The following images was taken in Karlu Karlu / Devils Marbles during the trip.
Another composite taken in Karlu Karlu / Devils Marbles.
Date: 28 Feb - 03 Mar 2022
Location: Tennant Creek, Devils Marbles, Australia
Equipment and settings:
Camera: SONY A7RII
Lens: Sigma 20mm f1.4 Art
Star Tracker: Star Adventurer Pro 2i
Foreground: 1/5s iso100 f10
Night Sky: 25s iso1600 f2 × 50 Frames
