M42/ Running Man region.

[RobH]

Hello all.

Here's another M42 region, imaged from Weymouth in January.

It's nowhere near as deep as some of the other magnificent imaages of this object posted by others with dark skies, but I was actually quite surprised how much dust was captured, despite some quite severe light pollution from Portland Port.

All credit to Pixinsight's DBE tool....it made short work of the LP gradient while leaving the dust intact.

There are a few issues with the image that need fixing.....I haven't got my focal reducer spacing correct yet and this is evidenced in the corners where the coma is present and also the RGB doesn't exactly line up. I've sorted the worst of this out with the clone tool set to darken, but life's too short to deal with every single star!!

Also, there is quite a lot of colour noise showing in the faint dusty regions....this simply needs more imaging time to get a better S/N ratio, but as I had to go away for work at the end of January, and won't be back for a few days yet, this is what I've had to work with.....maybe I'll get a chance to add to it this year still.

All in all though, I think it came out okay and is a reasonable start.

I've deliberately kept the core as bright as possible without burning it out as I wanted to give some impression of the dynamic range of the nebula....I first stretched the main image, then dropped the short core image onto it, and then stretched this separately.

Imaging details....

Scope. TMB 80/480-Televue TRF2008 focal reducer

Camera. SX M25c OSC

38 X 10 minute subs (6 hrs 20 minutes)

10 x 30 second subs for the core.

Captured, calibrated and stacked with Maxim, DBE in Pixinsight (gradient removal) and all other processing in Photoshop CS3.

Cheers

Rob

[Yoddha]

Great image as usually, Rob!

[Tom OD]

Beautiful Rob,

The core is very well blended, and it has a natual look to it. I can't see any star alignment issues, just good colour.

You should try the Pixinsight Histogram stretch. It works in 32 bit as opposed to PS 16 bitt (I think). I find I could pull a little more detail out with it than PS Curves.

Tom

[Darth Takahashi]

Very nice image as usual; but is it me or do these OSC camera suffer from more colour noise (6H20M is a lot of time already) especially for such a bright object.

[RobH]

Thanks all.

Tom, I'll give the PI histogram stretch tool a go. Thanks for the heads-up.

Neil.....the noise is in the background dust, which I stretched a lot and think that I would have sufferend from noise with a mono cam too. The dust was only fractionally above the LP level, so there wasn't much signal to work with.

Cheers

Rob

[Darth Takahashi]

Neil.....the noise is in the background dust, which I stretched a lot and think that I would have sufferend from noise with a mono cam too. The dust was only fractionally above the LP level, so there wasn't much signal to work with.

Cheers

Rob

That's probably it; LP raising your sky limit... The reason that I asked is that I've been considering one of these cameras to double my imaging time.

[RobH]

That's probably it; LP raising your sky limit... The reason that I asked is that I've been considering one of these cameras to double my imaging time.

Precisely why I've got one. The rig I'm taking to SGL7 will be the TMB 80 AND M25C plus the H18 (If the darned thing works properly) and the WO ZS80FD for luminance/Ha both on the HEQ5 pro. RGB and luminance at the same time.

Rob

[cloudbuster]

as ever Rob...a lovely image!

[Coco]

Wonderful image, very rich indeed, nearly didn’t click the link due to M42 being in the title .. I thought well Rob posted it so let’s have a gander

Look at the faint dust! who said OSC can’t make gravy?

[MartinB]

Excellent Rob, the colour is beautiful and I like the fact that you haven't totally flattened out the core. Were you using an LP filter?

[RobH]

Excellent Rob, the colour is beautiful and I like the fact that you haven't totally flattened out the core. Were you using an LP filter?

No LP filter Martin....I don't like them and find that LP can be removed with software if you're careful....that and DBE to get rid of gradients and you're on your way!

Rob

[chr1s]

that's stunning!

[MartinB]

Skyglow is like a great big noise barrier though Rob. Even at Les Granges (when shooting over the little hamlet there) I found a CLS filter enabled me to pull out more integrated flux than no LP filter. An IDAS is better still, they do effectively give you a darker sky.

[RobH]

Maybe I'll try again Martin....I have a 1.25 inch Hutech IDAS filter that I've not used for ages, but am somewhat put off by the price of the 2 inch ones, especially at the moment as all of my work until October at the earliest has been cancelled, and you can't eat LP filters!!

Rob

[barkis]

Another RH. special. Terrific looking Nebula, and mega rich colourwise .

Ron.

[Anweniel]

Great job Rob, really makes my effort look pitiful! Love how rich the detail is in those darker parts of the nebulosity

[RobH]

Thanks again folks.

I was very surprised how much of the dark and dusty stuff I picked up from home. I've never considered shooting dark nebulae before now as I didn't think I stood much chance of getting decent signal, but after this I think I've got a whole new set of targets to go for

Rob

[gingergeek]

Looking at images like that inspires beginners like myself, very nice indeed.

[Fay]

Very nice, Rob. Very rich colours, and a lovely background with good star colour.

Fay

[JCJC]

Perfect Rob! A nice natural feel, not gone all Pixinsighty Great colours too!

Jordan

[spaceboy]

Dam that's good!!!

[RobH]

A nice natural feel, not gone all Pixinsighty

Jordan

Thanks Jordan.....I know what you mean.....just because there is data there doesn't mean that it's the law to squeeze every last drop out and lose the main target IMHO

[Beyond_Vision]

A great image Rob very nicely processed I agree with your approach as often some layered images end up looking very flat.

Regards

Kevin

[dave wilcox]

Fantastic image

[Tim]

You should try the Pixinsight Histogram stretch. It works in 32 bit as opposed to PS 16 bitt (I think). I find I could pull a little more detail out with it than PS Curves.

Tom

+1