My first deepsky - M42 Orion Nebula

[vincentnm]

Hi All,

This is my very first deep sky attempt.

Captured on 9th March 2008 with C9.25, Meade F/3.3 CCD Focal Reducer, Modded Canon 350D.

50 subs each of 3.5 seconds at 1600 ISO.

Stacked in Registax with Multipoint align.

Levels, Curves, Brightness, Contrast with Photoshop CS2.

No dark frames, bias, LPR etc. BAsically got rid of the light pollution using levels, Brightness, and Contrast.

What do you think of these images? Which one looks more natural? A touch of Curves in the green channel in the second image.

Thanks,

Vincent Morris.

[Paxo]

That's an excellent first attempt Vincent, picked up lots of detail and vivid colours with the increased Ha sensitivity of the camera.

Have you tried Deep Sky Stacker (DSS) for alignment. It is generally agreed that DSS is better for DSO's, though I'm sure someone more knowledgeable than me can comment on this.

Steve..

[Tim]

Dontcha just LOVE M42

Nice pics there.

I was under the impression though that the F3.3 reducer from Meade was no good for DSLR photography? Those pics deny that.

Cheers

TJ

[LostNSpace]

That is very nice for your 1st attempt Vincent. You should be very pleased with that......

I say the top image looks more natural, although colour is a very personal thing.....

Mark

[steppenwolf]

That's good for a first attempt as M42 is not as easy as its relative brightness my make you think. I prefer the first image as I prefer the balance between the Trapezium area and the outer filaments.

[moondog]

That's an excellent first M42 Vincent. Well done. Good detail for only 3.5 secs - I guess the SCT is in Alt Az mode?. If so you would be better to use Deep Sky Stacker as Steve says, as this will deal with the field rotation, which you get on an Alt Az mount. You could then manage some longer subs.

Dontcha just LOVE M42

Nice pics there.

I was under the impression though that the F3.3 reducer from Meade was no good for DSLR photography? Those pics deny that.

Cheers

TJ

With the F3.3 reducer Vincent would have captured a much wider field than the posted image and cropped the image (check the image size) to get rid of the extensive vignetting that comes with using a DSLR.

MD

[jgs001]

Nice image Vincent. It's come out well.

[vincentnm]

That's an excellent first M42 Vincent. Well done. Good detail for only 3.5 secs - I guess the SCT is in Alt Az mode?. If so you would be better to use Deep Sky Stacker as Steve says, as this will deal with the field rotation, which you get on an Alt Az mount. You could then manage some longer subs.

Dontcha just LOVE M42

Nice pics there.

I was under the impression though that the F3.3 reducer from Meade was no good for DSLR photography? Those pics deny that.

Cheers

TJ

With the F3.3 reducer Vincent would have captured a much wider field than the posted image and cropped the image (check the image size) to get rid of the extensive vignetting that comes with using a DSLR.

MD

TJ, MD,

You are absolutely right. There was some horrible vignetting and I had to crop.

See this unprocessed sub:

Thanks Vincent.

[radioactive]

Very very good that's a great first go keep em coming :hello1: :hello1:

[algol]

good first try vincent and nicely cropped etc too.

[MikeD]

Congrats, the first of many I hope.

Mike.

[MartinB]

Excellent result Vincent. Definitely the first one. Good idea to go for the fast speed of the 3.3 and crop out the vignetting.

[RobH]

Hello Vincent,

Well done

It's the first one for me too....more core detail.

All a bit red, but looking at yoiur uncropped shot this could be light pollution....is it bad where you are?

Cheers

Rob

[CELESCOPE]

nice start vincent , keep it up

Rog