My First Nebula

[eyepod]

I got my EQ5 Pro and 130pds in July and i have taken images of  M31 and M13 and a few other clusters but never any nebula. Thursday night was clear and the moon was out of the way so i thought i would take a chance and finally image M42. This is the result and i must say i'm very pleased with what i got.

I kept the ISO to 640 as i didn't want to burn out the core. Its not perfect of course, i think its a bit off centre, the "coma" is quite obvious and it may be bit too blue (unmodded camera). Also i forgot to lock down the focus tube and i think it moved slightly as i was pressing buttons on the camera. It was freezing cold out there, i didn't get in until 2am and had to get up at 6am for work the next day, so i was like a zombie on Friday but it was totally worth it.

regards

Jason

40 x 50secs lights @ 640 ISO, Nikon D5300 unmodded

10 x Darks

18 x Flats

  8 x Bias

[PeterCPC]

Good image. You definitely don't want to be pressing buttons on the camera - use a remote or software like Backyard Nikon.

Peter

[eyepod]

thanks Peter, i'll dig out my netbook and give backyard Nikon a try.

Jason

[JR1987]

Looks great! youve set the bar high for yourself

[Pompey Monkey]

 It was freezing cold out there, i didn't get in until 2am and had to get up at 6am for work the next day, so i was like a zombie on Friday but it was totally worth it.

Same for me - I don't know how I got through the day!

Excellent first M42 too!

[Gazabone]

Great photo, nicely taken and well processed.

[JR1987]

Same for me - I don't know how I got through the day!

Excellent first M42 too!

Haha I think the night was so good everyone on this forum was probably a little worse for wear on friday. 

How could anyone expect us to waste a full 12 hours of clear skies though?!?

[eyepod]

thanks for the postive comments everyone, lets hope we don't have to wait too long for the next clear night..!

Jason

[laudropb]

Very nice first image. Thanks for posting.

[eyepod]

Having fun over lunch break too see how far i can push the Curves and Levels in Photoshop, this might be too much but i'm quite surprised to see how much data is lurking in there.

Jason

[triton1]

Good view of the running man there well done

[hitmanh]

Really nice image. You may want to have a play with layer masking to stop the center of the nebula from blowing out? The original image is very nicely detailed in that area.

[iwols]

one word excellent wish it was mine