Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Orion (Ori)  ·  Contains:  Flame Nebula  ·  IC 431  ·  IC 432  ·  IC 434  ·  IC 435  ·  NGC 2023  ·  NGC 2024  ·  Orion B  ·  The star Alnitak (ζOri)  ·  The star σOri
Horsehead and Flame on 35mm Film, AlenK
Horsehead and Flame on 35mm Film
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Horsehead and Flame on 35mm Film

Horsehead and Flame on 35mm Film, AlenK
Horsehead and Flame on 35mm Film
Powered byPixInsight

Horsehead and Flame on 35mm Film

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Description

This 35mm film image was from my fourth night taking prime-focus, deep-sky astrophotos and only a month after my very first night. I used Elite Chrome 200 slide film. The 30-minute exposure was manually guided through a Lumicon Newtonian Easy Guider OAG with a 3x relay Barlow and a 12mm illuminated reticle eyepiece. The telescope was a Meade MTS-SN6 6-inch Schmidt-Newtonian, which came with its own unique fork mount driven by an old-fashioned AC motor drive. Vintage 80's technology.

I was quite pleased with this early success back in the day and even today I don't think it is a bad image. The main problem with film compared to digital, besides significantly less sensitivity, is that star sizes are much larger because of a phenomenon called halation. Better processing using the programs available today, including pseudo-flat fielding and star-size reduction, would probably improve this image immensely.

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Horsehead and Flame on 35mm Film, AlenK