canon preview showing m42 with orange sky rather than black..

[danccat]

Is this normal or is it light pollution? Or do I need to change my camera settings?

Thanks guys

[Xplode]

It's totally normal and is easilly fixed when processing.

[danccat]

That's very reassuring... thank you.  

However, although tonight was to be my second attempt on getting a DSO image... again, I failed.  I was confident as I thought I learnt from last time but alas, I was still useless.

Gutted really, here is my m42... I couldn't even get DSS to stack more than one image... total fail

One 50 second image of m42... I just don't know what i'm doing wrong... I don't even know how to change the format so I could at least attempt a go on Star tools.

Sorry if this is sounding like a depressing update, its 00:27 here and i just cant get this and its frustrating me

[danccat]

...and it won't even allow me to put on here... Pic taken from mobile of monitor ...

[Thalestris24]

Hi

I'm afraid that looks like severe light pollution - plus maybe clouds? Need to see the original really. Can you load it into a graphics editor, resize it a bit and save as a .png?

TBH it's not easy trying to image at long focal lengths, especially unguided (I'm presuming unguided from your sig).

Louise

Edit: DSS will allow you to save as tiff format. You can edit in Adobe CS2, or paint.NET or GIMP (freeware)

Also, can I ask whether you've had a full-spectrum mod done on your 1100d?

[Psychobilly]

I'm a few miles away in the Swansea Valley...

While last night promised Clear skies there was a lot of moisture in the air and it was what I descibe as a lentil soup night... The moisture really raises the LP levels...

I use an IDAS P2 filter and it cut through it a bit but I  decided not to do anything with the data in the end...

DSS might be struggling as there are not that many stars in your  closeup image of the trapezium image... 

Peter...

[danccat]

Moisture eh? Right... To be honest, I was working until 9pm, by the time so got home it and had it all set up ready it was gone 10pm, m42 was quite low in the sky, so I guess that, mixed with light pollution had created those images. I'll try and shoot at an object that's higher in the sky next time and not bother if it's humid, I was just trying to capture m42 before it's gone until next winter..

Louise, thanks for your reply, I used my az eq6 last night and was tracking nicely... The camera is a Canon 1100d and was modded at cheap astrophotography, only just had it back. I'll try and resave it under a different format and see if I can do anything with this one piece (which I doubt) on star tools or gimp.