by Kenny Zook » Tue Jul 06, 2010 11:32 am
Southern Crown, M7 and...the Ghost of Kenny? They killed Kenny!
(Not really, it's just the only South Park bit Kenny ever liked!-) Actually, but not at all seriously, amatuer astrophotographer Kenny Zook set his camera for a 15 second delay, so he could find his spot and strike a pose, listen for the shutter, count out half the 10 second exposure and then dash out of frame to create his ghost.
After combining this single frame with 10 flats to reduce vignetting, and just a bit of data stretching even the small 900 pixel wide jpg has enough detail that when you zoom in (if your monitor is bright enough), you can clearly see bushes and clumps of tall grass through the ghost, not quite read the Chicago Bears shirt, and see a light from a boat or campsite reflecting off the water to the left of the ghost.
The curve of the constellation Southern Crown stands out at far left in the sky, and Ptolemy’s Cluster (M7) near the center of the sky almost shows a hint of NGC 6453 if you zoom in far enough, and a far less subtle hint in the 6 MB unscaled jpg version. Around and above M7, light and dark dust lanes of the Milky Way are clearly visible.
The scene is at the waterfront near the boat dock at Huntington Reservoir in Indiana. The light domes appear to be nearby Warren, SSW, and farther, but larger Marion to the SE.
Southern Crown, M7 and...the Ghost of Kenny? They killed Kenny!
(Not really, it's just the only South Park bit Kenny ever liked!-) Actually, but not at all seriously, amatuer astrophotographer Kenny Zook set his camera for a 15 second delay, so he could find his spot and strike a pose, listen for the shutter, count out half the 10 second exposure and then dash out of frame to create his ghost.
After combining this single frame with 10 flats to reduce vignetting, and just a bit of data stretching even the small 900 pixel wide jpg has enough detail that when you zoom in (if your monitor is bright enough), you can clearly see bushes and clumps of tall grass through the ghost, not quite read the Chicago Bears shirt, and see a light from a boat or campsite reflecting off the water to the left of the ghost.
The curve of the constellation Southern Crown stands out at far left in the sky, and Ptolemy’s Cluster (M7) near the center of the sky almost shows a hint of NGC 6453 if you zoom in far enough, and a far less subtle hint in the 6 MB unscaled jpg version. Around and above M7, light and dark dust lanes of the Milky Way are clearly visible.
The scene is at the waterfront near the boat dock at Huntington Reservoir in Indiana. The light domes appear to be nearby Warren, SSW, and farther, but larger Marion to the SE.