First ever deep sky image M42 Nexstar 4se

[eyepod]

Hi all, I thought i'd have a go at some deep sky imaging with my nexstar 4se. so I borrowed a canon d1000 and decided to have a go at M42 as its a nice easy target. I'm quite pleased with my first pic it took a while to understand deep sky stacker but once stacked and loaded into CS4 the detail started to come out. I'm sure there is a bit more in there, but i'm unsure which to use: levels or curves..?? any help would be much appreciated:icon_salut:

This was about 36 light frames 20 dark @ 10secs each, using a nexstar 4se with just solar system align. I'm going to try polar aligning the scope next time to see if i can increase the exposure time a bit.

regards

Jason

[johnh]

Thats a very good result for a first effort with good colour, with PA you'll be able to get the outer range of nebulosity even with just 60sec subs, so keep going.

John.

[eyepod]

Thanks John, I've had another go at the image to try and get more detail out. there is a little bit more there i think.