An hour with M42 in a darkish sky

[Tim]

It's been some time since I pointed a telescope at Orion, but during our break at Kelling Heath it looked so glorious rising in the east around 4am-ish that it seemed rude not to take its photo!

Without the luxury of my home observatory where I can spend most of my imaging time asleep I was really struggling to stay awake and alert, so only managed to gather six ten minute exposures. Shame, because I think the combination of QHY8 and Borg 77EDII frames this area quite nicely and the image had potential. It's a bit noisy as is.

One thing I wont forget in a hurry was the sight that greeted us on our final morning. Crawling out of a tiny tent at 5.30 or so with my wife the sky was just ablaze with stars, and Orion the constellation was lording it over the whole scene. Jupiter and Mars framed the setting. We just stood there, breathless. Magical

Thanks for looking.

Tim

[ollypenrice]

All I can say is, Yup. You have said it. Glorious sight.

Olly

[Beyond_Vision]

Nice to share that moment together and a great picture to remember it by

Regards

Kevin

[Pingster]

All i can say is its complete rubbish... Looks nothing like how i saw it visually last night

Stunning. Keep it up.

[LukeSkywatcher]

That is sweet.

[MikeD]

That's a great shot with a well controlled core for ten minute subs.

Mike.

[Keiran]

Thats very nice

[neild]

That's a fantastic shot. Well done.

[duncan.p]

An hour well spent, beautiful...........

[barkis]

Quite Cushty Tim.

Another 10,000 or more M42's will make an appearance in full regalia this winter, and I hope I see most of them. I mean, who could weary of seeing the majesty of this beautiful object.

Ron.

[laser_jock99]

Quite Cushty Tim.

Another 10,000 or more M42's will make an appearance in full regalia this winter, and I hope I see most of them. I mean, who could weary of seeing the majesty of this beautiful object.

Ron.

Yes- I guess we will all have 'a go' at M42 this winter. It's just too inviting. I had a quick pop way back in August- but as you can imagine I was fighting against the sunrise!