It's that time of year again.... M42

[earth titan]

This is the 1st real shot at m42 with the Atik 314 (I didn't get it until this season) so pleased with how well this little camera does.

Small chip size means I can't do the size of the nebula justice, but happy nonetheless. What a difference the CCD makes over a modded DSLR.

The core is completely blown but I have another luminance layer for the core (of only 15 second shots) which I'm going to have to learn to layer in over the next few days.

Comments welcome.

[LeeWilky]

I love it very nice.

[Newfie]

Nice work !

[Uranium235]

I feel a mosaic coming on

Go on, you know you want to!

[ScottS]

Very nice.

[sologuitarist61]

Beautifully done - that is a lovely image

[earth titan]

I've had a go at blending in shorter luminance exposures to keep the core more under control and boosted the colours.

[symesie04]

Very nice, maybe just a squidgen red?

[stargazerslivingroom]

Very nice, maybe just a squidgen red?

My thoughts, too but you're going in the right direction with the core.

Well done Tom on a very tricky target.

Steve

[earth titan]

Very nice, maybe just a squidgen red?

I agree. Think I overcooked it a bit.

[NickK]

M42 is one of those targets that is a test for both beginner through to grand master.. When I was at Olly's he asked what target I was going for - I said "something simple - M42" he said it was one of the hardest and now I tend to agree (hehe you can see which is the beginner and which is the grand master!). This crop was with a 383L and 4, 30 and 600 second exposures (my first multi night image hence the mess up with the green alignment with a flipped rig and bad tracking!):

M42 will take a range of exposures - from 3 seconds to 20 minutes+. It's such a dynamic range of brightness it really needs processing with a large number of bits per colour. The fine details in the core start appearing too when you combine the large range. Not just the central stars but the fine nebula detail. HDR does work with this nicely.. Don't be afraid to hit this with 3-5 second exposures to add the final touches.

Looking at the second image - the stretch on the core is over saturating, I feel that you could put in some short exposures and longer ones (allows less stretch) to pull the subtle details