Name this Constellation, PLEASE?

[drexyl26]

Can someone please name the constellation above and to the right of the tree. The one with three stars aligned. It looks like a diper but I don't think it is. New at this and need a point of reference for looking up other sky objects. TY

 

[adrenalynn]

Orion. The winter constellation.

Give me a minute and I'll lable the stars for you.

 

[drexyl26]

Thank you very much. Can't figure anythig out on Google Sky

 

[adrenalynn]

My pleasure!

We're spoiling you though. This one is sooo recognizable to those of us that "roam the skies". In the future, you'll want to note the date and time, your approximate location on earth, and the compass direction you were looking in.

Bonus points if you estimate the angle.

For anything "hard", we'll all need that information to figure it out.

Nice photo, btw. Pretty colors, good exposure, not a lot of trailing of the stars. Makes it easier! I've sharpened it up a bit more, hope you don't mind.

Enclosed - the stars and major objects you were looking at labeled [This is from memory, so I only marked the ones I'm 110% certain of...]:

 

[adrenalynn]

Darn. It chopped-off the right half. Let me do that one as a second image. I spent a lot of time naming The Sisters.

 

[adrenalynn]

 

[adrenalynn]

Here's the approximate Astronomical Asterism of Orion "The Hunter" plus the common names of the parts of the Asterism

 

[drexyl26]

Wow, Thats great thanks. If you want to see more, I can find some darker, maybe clearer pics I've taken..and the original files are much larger, much better

 

[adrenalynn]

You're welcome.

We always want pictures - you can post in Astrophotography to your heart's content - and please do!

If you get some zoom and longer exposures going on M42/M43 in Orion, they'll look like this [Canon 20D camera prime focus on a 5" NexStar 5 telescope, shot last year from my back yard. Yellow is light pollution that I never cleaned-up]:

 

[adrenalynn]

Another [earlier try] M42/M43 shot with my camera/telescope from the backyard:

 

[drexyl26]

Was that a motorized tripod or attacted to the scopes eyepiece or both?

 

[adrenalynn]

Oh - and the asterism should be "hand / fingers" but I'm too lazy to go back and edit, so I'll just post a foot-note.

The camera was affixed to the back of the telescope in the light-path, like you would an eyepiece, only with no eyepiece on it. The telescope is motorized, but alas, it's Alt/Azimuth not Equatorial, so the length of time I can shoot without trailing stars is *very* limited.

That's called "Prime Focus", versus "Projection" or "Eyepiece projection".

Cost-wise, this is very affordable. The scope can be had for a few hundred dollars on eBay now, and the camera is probably about the same.

 

[adrenalynn]

Orion is a SUPER RICH astrophotography target...
This is with the camera "Piggyback" on the 'scope. Just using a 200mm lens on the camera and using the scope for motor-drive, the camera is strapped to the top with pipe straps. I was trying to get a long enough exposure to image the horsehead and flame nebulas. You can just begin to make out the flame nebula next to the really bright star almost center of the image, and you can see the Orion Nebula in the bottom right side:

[edit: Doh! It cropped it. Let me resize and try again]
[edit: Resized]

 

[drexyl26]

Well thanks for the help. You know your stuff. btw Canon Rebel here. I'm sure Ill have more questions soon..

 

[adrenalynn]

My pleasure - I always enjoy chatting astrophotography!

The DRebel is a fine capable astrophotography camera. The latest models arguably shoot better than my 20D (although I've since modified my 20D to remove the IR Cut Filter to improve the emission nebula redness.) for astrophotography.

Look forward to seeing your images over in Astrophotography!