by RBA » Wed Nov 04, 2009 4:06 am
Well, first, there's 13 years between both images. The astrophoto gear amateurs use today has improved quite a bit from what they used 13 years ago.
The first image was likely taken with a camera lens and film. The nebulosity was obviously already there but the film simply didn't capture it. It also is most definitely a single exposure, and maybe not too long even for film. The second image also has a lot of stars in it, but they don't overwhelm the image, which has been captured through very different techniques (multiple exposures, digital CCD, etc) and it has later been processed in such a way that the stars have been "contained" during the process of bringing out the dust and nebulosity. Each image has its merit for the year it was taken IMHO.
Well, first, there's 13 years between both images. The astrophoto gear amateurs use today has improved quite a bit from what they used 13 years ago.
The first image was likely taken with a camera lens and film. The nebulosity was obviously already there but the film simply didn't capture it. It also is most definitely a single exposure, and maybe not too long even for film. The second image also has a lot of stars in it, but they don't overwhelm the image, which has been captured through very different techniques (multiple exposures, digital CCD, etc) and it has later been processed in such a way that the stars have been "contained" during the process of bringing out the dust and nebulosity. Each image has its merit for the year it was taken IMHO.