scouting for darker area

aquillae · Post by **aquillae** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 4:08 pm

hi guys, the sky was clear after sunset last July 17th.

I saw the beautiful celestial gathering (Moon, Venus, Saturn, Regulus) and took a pic of it.

http://www.astrojeff.com/blogpics/20070 ... 172007.jpg

later at night, i decided to scout/drive around (away from the city), looking for a nice dark observing spot. I managed to find a nice and dark spot, but it was quite scary to park the car and observe there, especially since I was alone and i've never been there before :p

since i only brought my canon 350d + fixed tripod, I only stayed there for about 20 minutes just to take some pics of the Milky Way using my 15mm f/2.8 semi-fish eye lens.

here's a single 30seconds shot of the Milky Way (@ ISO 1600), dark-frame substracted in Photoshop.

the image was quite noisy so i scaled it down a lot. I was quite amazed to see some hints of the Rho region and Barnard 44.

before i left, i also took this image of the silvery river separating 2 lovers =) (there's still some light pollution)

yanyewkay · Post by **yanyewkay** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 4:39 pm

were they taken in singapore?

ariefm71 · Post by **ariefm71** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 4:49 pm

no, jeff is based in sumatra, indonesia.
i missed home

yanyewkay · Post by **yanyewkay** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 4:52 pm

ariefm71 wrote:no, jeff is based in sumatra, indonesia.
i missed home

you're from the milky way?

ariefm71 · Post by **ariefm71** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 4:59 pm

"E.T. comes home, E.T. comes home..."

aquillae · Post by **aquillae** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 10:44 pm

hehe

come visit the Southern sky star party on August 26, Mas Arief.

yanyewkay, the pics were taken from lampung @ the southern edge of sumatra island.

Tachyon · Post by **Tachyon** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 9:13 am

I like this picture!

Post by **weixing** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 10:56 am

Hi,
WOW!! Very nice image of the Milky Way!!!

It's really nice to have such dark sky at your own neighborhood.

Have a nice day.

aquillae · Post by **aquillae** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 12:22 pm

glad you guys like it =)

the site is pretty dark but i still need to find a secure area though.