Barnards Loop in Orion

[strgazr27]

I was really excited to see that this months challenge over at CloudyNights.Com was to be Barnards Loop. I have always wanted to shoot this object but never had anything that could either frame it or was optically good enough. Well the 70-200L is optically almost perfect but I could have used a bit more sky. I may reshoot with my 24-105L if the weather cooperates near the end of the month. I think I went pretty deep and overall I am pleased with the image. I'd like another 3 hours but we'll see. JPEG Compression kills it so I will post a larger file by Saturday off site. Comments welcomed!

Canon Self Modded 40D Front Mount CLS and 70-200L F/4 IS @ 70mm with IS off
54 X 300 sec ISO 800
EQ-6 w EQMOD / SSAG and MaximDl v 5 for guiding
Darks, Flats and Bias applied
Calibrated in Images Plus V 3
Stacked in Registar
NoiseNinja, GradX and PSCS2
** A few REALLY good tips from Hunter !**

Thanks for looking!

http://strgazr27.zenfolio.com/img/v5/p635401102.bmp

[Nighthound]

SO amazingly deep and SO perfectly processed.

Outstanding work Bobby.

[StageOne]

Wow!! The astrophotography images continue to wow me.. just amazing.

[PJ1958]

Very impressive! Especially the red sensitivity of the modded 40D. The 70-200L looks like a lens to put on my wish list. Either the f/4 or f/2.8

[Celestron]

WOW :shock: , beautiful WF shot !

[R Hardman]

Yikes! Really well done.

[strgazr27]

Thanks so much for the compliments everyone. I managed to grab another 90 minutes and tonight hope to capture the upper area as well as over towards the Rosette nebula. I have decided a winter long project is a 6-8 frame mosaic of the surrounding areas. Wish me luck!

[Madweasel]

Superb image. I know Barnard's Loop is exceedingly faint - do you need a really dark sky to get an image like that? We don't really have such a thing in the UK.

[Adrena1in]

Holy crap, I was of the belief that Barnard's Loop is a b**ger of a target to capture, but you've made it look so easy. I'm very envious, and VERY impressed!

[Ryan.]

That is awesome! The detail is amazing!