Orion and Neighbours

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Made some more progress processing my images from the 23rd and 24th, I'm very happy with this set. Also viewable on Flickr.

This was taken with my kit lens at 17mm at f5.0. It's only 28 minutes of data (8x210 second subs) as the lens dewed up very quickly. That's the Rosette Nebula half way up on the left hand edge of frame.

Here's a slightly improved version of my Orion 50mm shot.

(50mm lens at f4.5 on my modded Canon 1100D. 22x210 second subs, ~77 minutes total.)

Also had a go at the Belt and Sword with my 135mm f2.5 Takumar at f4.0.

(21x120 second subs, 42 minutes total.)

And the Rosette with the same lens.

(15x120 second subs, 30 minutes total.)

I've made some decent progress on the processing side. I applied gradient removal to the two wide shots in StarTools, this worked much better after I cropped a few pixels off the edges of the frame - stacking artifacts were confusing it. For the 50mm Orion and Belt & Sword images I blended in a separately stretched image for the core of M42 to prevent it from blowing out using Photoshop CS2, using this excellent guide.

I'm going to try and get some more data on the Belt and Sword shot at the earliest opportunity, of the four images it's the one that would benefit most I think.

All feedback welcome as always.

[bogdog]

love these kinds of shots using camera lenses,135mm seems better way to go to get more detail well done

[Sirius Starwatcher]

Ver very impressive. Having read your spec on how you get to the finished image I think I need to stick with observing for a lot longer. Thanks for posting your images

[ScottS]

Great images. They show where everything in that area of sky is located relative to each other.

[PeterCPC]

Great that you got the Horsehead on there. Congrats.

Peter

[tingting44]

very impressive from the trusty kit lens! you should be very proud of these mate!

[robbie c]

So you should be happy with this set Knight they're cracking images well done 

[knobby]

Top stuff, well done

[Space Ranger]

Fabulous images

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Thanks for the comments.

Olly very kindly had a quick go at processing my Orion 50mm image using Pixinsight, here is the result.

He used the DBE (dark background extraction?) tool which has done a far better job of cleaning up the gradients than I could manage with StarTools, I'm not sure what other steps were taken. Just goes to show what a powerful piece of software it is in the right hands. It certainly makes me want to learn more about processing.

[Vox45]

Wow, very well done

I was looking at M42 yesterday ... always a pretty sight !

[ollypenrice]

Thanks for the comments.

Olly very kindly had a quick go at processing my Orion 50mm image using Pixinsight, here is the result.

He used the DBE (dark background extraction?) tool which has done a far better job of cleaning up the gradients than I could manage with StarTools, I'm not sure what other steps were taken. Just goes to show what a powerful piece of software it is in the right hands. It certainly makes me want to learn more about processing.

Actually this just used DBE (Dynamic Background Extraction) and SCNR green noise removal in PI. The rest was in Photoshop CS3. However, I find those two PI steps utterly essential.

Olly

[kalasinman]

That does it! Got to mod my Nikon.-Jack

Wonderful stuff, BTW.

[Nathan_Pembs]

Excellent stuff, you should be proud of these.

I've recently been looking at the TAkumar 135mm myself to use with my modded Canon, you would recommend this lens?

[kirkster501]

Stunning stuff! Very well done indeed.

[MattJenko]

I love the mini horsehead in the 50mm shot. Awesome. Who needs telescopes!

DBE is really very very good, having played around with it for the last 2 days out of my 45 day PixInsight trial. I am going to have to be seriously hard pressed not to buy it after trying. 'The first hit is free'....

[RobertI]

Just had an enjoyable ten minutes identifying the various clusters and nebulae on your 17mm image. I love the scale of the 50mm image, showing the horsehead and M42 at a size not usually seen. Thanks for posting!

[Alien 13]

Great images as allways I like to think of this as the fun end of AP, equipment is relatively cheap exposure times are sensible but the results still have the wow factor.

Alan

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Thanks again for the comments.

I've recently been looking at the TAkumar 135mm myself to use with my modded Canon, you would recommend this lens?

Yes, I'd certainly recommend them. I have both the 135mm f3.5 and f2.5.

[Scott]

These are more than a little impressive...they're stunning. I had a go at the sword and belt a month or so ago and was really happy with it.... Just off to delete it from my computer now . 

I really need to learn how to process now.

[Pete Presland]

it is great to see such iconic objects in a widefeild setting, excellenty captured.