The constellations of Orion & Monoceros
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Orion is not only a very noticeable constellation but it is also riddled with interstellar nebulae that are of great interest for both visual and photographic observers. Monoceros is a much more obscure constellation with no very bright stars. It borders Orion to the east and also contains several interesting star clusters and nebulae.
Location of nebulae
The following photo was taken with camera only, to get the wide field (on HEQ5 mount, driven). This non-telescopic view of Orion shows the location of various nebulae. The large but faint red arc just visible to the left of the belt across the middle of the constellation is Barnard's loop, an HII (ionised hydrogen) cloud.
Canon EOS5DMkII 254mm Newtonian @ 1200mm 99 x 30s f/4.8 ISO6400 2011-01-28 19:37:04-20:37:40 UT
From Rookhope 54.8
A cropped and enlarged portion of that makes it easier to see the Flame Nebula next to Zeta, the Horsehead below it, and M42 etc lower down:
Canon EOS5DMkII 254mm Newtonian @ 1200mm 99 x 30s f/4.8 ISO6400 2011-01-28 19:37:04-20:37:40 UT
From Rookhope 54.8
The Milky Way past Gemini and Orion
Canon EOS5DMkII 24-105mm @ 35mm 24 x 30s f/4 ISO6400 2011-03-01 19:30:50-19:45:38 UT
From Rookhope 54.8
Camera only on HEQ5 mount, driven but not guided.
It is clear in this photo that Betelgeuse is much redder than other stars. Below it, Barnard's loop is more visible too.
GRIP is able to detect 45,306 stars in the original (21 megapixel) version of this photo.
The pink patch to left of Betelgeuse and slightly lower is the Rosette Nebula, in the neighbouring constellation of Monoceros. Further North, but not obvious here, are the Christmas Tree Cluster and the Cone Nebula.
H-alpha regions around Monoceros
At Astrofest in London in February 2011 I obtained a 1.25" broad Hα filter. It passes wavelengths from about 650nm onwards into the red. I wanted to see whether it would help in detecting Hα with my unmodified EOS 5D MkII, particularly in the presence of light pollution. So from my suburban site, where I only had a fixed tripod, I taped the filter in front of a Sigma 17-35mm zoom lens and tried adding up some short (only slightly trailing) exposures. I chose that lens because it has a small diameter highly curved front surface, not much larger than the filter. I pointed the camera at the Canis Minor - Monoceros - Orion region and here is the result:
Canon EOS5DMkII 17-35mm @ 35mm 49 x 30s f/4 ISO6400 2011-02-07 21:28:49-21:57:23 UT
From Whitley Bay 55.1
Considering this was on a fixed tripod with an unmodified camera at a suburban site, I am quite pleased with the way the Rosette nebula stands out in the centre and Barnard's Loop is quite visible, up the left side of Orion. So I hope to do much better from my rural observing site. The solid red at the bottom here is of course due to light pollution.