Attempting the Horse Head

[Randalloverby]

I've got my Celestron AVX6 and Canon 5D Mark lll clicking away as I write this at 120sec exposures, which is about as far as I can go unguided. I will get as much exposure time as possible (hopefully 2+ hours), has anyone else tried this with a similar setup and if so what kind of results did you get. Thanks.

[wimvb]

Is your canon astromodded? (Can't see your signature at the moment.) if not, don't expect too much. I would very much like to see your results.

[Randalloverby]

42 minutes ago, wimvb said:

Is your canon astromodded? (Can't see your signature at the moment.) if not, don't expect too much. I would very much like to see your results.

No, it has not been modded. Almost 30 years ago I saw the Horse Head Nebula at a Planetarium and it has stuck in my mind every since so why not give it a try right. Originally I had over 2 hours of data but I do have PE problems so lost over 30 mins. to slanted stars. Ended up with 102 mins of exposure time @800iso, added darks and bias in DSS. The image below has a lot of issues but I really enjoyed trying to capture it, maybe one day I can upgrade what I have now...maybe. Thanks for looking. By the way, I used the Celestron AVX 6in Newt. and shot prime focus.

[wimvb]

Well, you certainly caught it on sensor. But in mono? From a dslr I would have expected full colour.

Unmodded Canon cameras have very low Ha sensitivity. In this region there are other interesting objects, besides the horsehead. Between the HH and the flame is a reflection nebula that is a challenge.

[Randalloverby]

1 minute ago, wimvb said:

Well, you certainly caught it on sensor. But in mono? From a dslr I would have expected full colour.

Unmodded Canon cameras have very low Ha sensitivity. In this region there are other interesting objects, besides the horsehead. Between the HH and the flame is a reflection nebula that is a challenge.

Thanks, It was shot in color but my editing skills in this area are very limited so just changed it to B&W. I will probably add more to it at a later date.

[newbie alert]

Ive got a avx 8 and did the horsehead at the same sesh as m42..80 secs 800 iso...i was very happy with the result

[cjdawson]

You've got to be happy that you got the Horsehead to come out!   That's fantastic.   It's on my wish list.  But so far, I've not managed to get to the point where I'm happy to attempt something that feint.

[Randalloverby]

59 minutes ago, cjdawson said:

You've got to be happy that you got the Horsehead to come out!   That's fantastic.   It's on my wish list.  But so far, I've not managed to get to the point where I'm happy to attempt something that feint.

Thanks, wasn't sure how much I could get but took a test shot and could faintly see it in there so gave it a try. I might setup soon and try to add to it but it seems that I am pushing my limits with what I have.

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Nice detail in the Flame nebula there.