My latest M42

[Roy Batty]

This was a total of about 36 mins exposure time with 60 second subs, ISO 1600, stacked using DSS & final processing in PS CS3.

It took a fair while for DSS to chunter away doing it's thing and I nearly run out of disk space in the process :shock: - even at the end of the stacking all I got was a blank image in DSS - it wasn't until I had closed DSS down and looked at the image in another app that I knew it was successful - probably maxing out the lappy's memory.

Anyway I'm happy with the result :hello1:

RB

(click to enlarge)

[barkis]

Your lappy maybe resorted to Virtual memory if the RAM was full. Might be totally wrong, I'm just guessing.

Anyway Roy, you got a beautiful result from it all, It's a very picture indeed. It has an electric quality.

Ron.

[moondog]

Yes, DSS is very slow, which also usually means it's a memory intensive program. I initially used DSS, I seemed to get variable results with it. When it worked it gave a great result - which is what you've got with your M42!. Well done

8)

MD

[jgs001]

Nice one, that's come out well.

[saturn5]

A real gem there Roy. 8)

[Ferox]

Very nice shot Roy.

[trevboyd]

Nice shot, Roy.

I usually end up with a blank white screen in DSS, but I think its because it seems to display the levels in a weird way and max all the pixels to white. There is a slider in the top right that I think allows you to fiddle, but like you, I just save it and open in PS anyway.

Trev

[Beyond_Vision]

DSS for some strange reason applies a log curve function once its finished stacking leaving you with an almost white screen. I find it best to set the curve function to each colour to ASIN then check the link box and move one of the central sliders so that the peak of the histogram is slightly to the left of the curve, then hit apply. Once you do this you should be able to see what you are dealing with and tweak the other sliders if need be. When saving dont forget to check the box 'apply changes to saved image'.

Nice shot btw Roy

[Roy Batty]

All - thanks for your shared experiences with DSS, it's nice to know these little software "features" are not unique to me.

Had a go last night at getting a similar amount of subs centred on Alnitak. First pass looks like I've got some of the flame nebula (NGC2024), but as I'm limited to short subs (coz my setup is unguided) there's a lot of glare from this central star that's dominating each sub and hence the final stack. Still if I can make something presentable from it I'll post it later.

BTW: thanks for your positive comments on the M42

cheers

RB

[trevboyd]

Roy, I've thought about trying the Flame - I'd be interested to see how yours comes out as I am limited in sub length too.

Trev