Orion over Valley of Fire

Kim and I went to Vegas last week, so we took the opportunity to revisit the Valley of Fire state park. This park holds a special place for us because it is where Kim proposed to me 17 years ago (she used to complain "why must the guy always propose?", so I jokingly told her "fine I'm not going to, it is up to you!").

I had about an hour after sunset before we needed to head back to town -- just enough time to catch Orion peaking up over the rocks.

This is kind of an experiment. I purposely left the focus slightly soft to bloom the constellation stars a bit (focused past infinity). Unfortunately, it also made the foreground slightly soft. But still, I think it is kinda cool.

I was also experimenting with a flash -- firing 2-3 bursts to illuminate the foreground and distant rocks (there was no moon yet). We are planning a driving trip out west and I intend to do a lot of night landscape shooting, so I am just trying some different stuff. I think next time I will use good focus and add a soft filter to bloom the brighter stars.

Nikon D700 ISO 1600
Sigma 15mm f/5.6
45 sec

The Riddler

This dusty nebula is very seldom imaged. In fact, I could find no other examples on the internet (except for extremely wide shots that encompass the entire Orion/Eridanus area -- where this object shows as a tiny patch).

I have always noticed this nebula, being just west of the famous Witch Head, so last week I decided to see what it would look like up close. I could not find any catalog number for the nebula, so this object was a bit of a mystery to me. And when I saw the results, I was quite amused at the "?" shape -- so I call this the Riddler (as suggested to me by my pal Dave Pearson).

After posting this image, a fellow astrophotographer finally alerted me to the catalog name of this object. It is found in the Lynd's Bright Nebula catalog. It is actually 2 different nebulae -- LBN917 (bottom) and LBN906 (top).

After poking around a bit, I found more info on this area here http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/0809/0809.0585v1.pdf

Stats:
FSQ 106EDX f/3.63
STL-11000M -25C
LRGB 240,30,30,30
CCDStack, PixInsight, CS5