3rd orion attempt: Barnard's loop at last!

[pipnina]

Tonight the weather gave me a well-timed break! No moon & no cloud+ surprisingly good visibility makes for a very happy pip.

I re-took my flats at 800-iso (18x on a different computer screen) however they still seem to be over-compensating for the lens' vignetting. The other problem I encountered tonight was my intervalometer and camera not being as in-sync as i'd hoped, meaning I got ~54 shots instead of 80+.

Nevertheless, this is the first time I have brought out barnard's loop in an image and I think I can even see parts of background nebulosity around orion, which is also very exciting! Not sure if the loop shows up better in the first image or second (2nd I tried to bring it out with reverse tonemap & contrast boost).

Roughly 54x30s lights, 100x bias & 18 flats.

Tiff included as always in case anyone wants a fiddle.

 

Overall I'm pretty chuffed with this one, I'm hoping to add to it later (I have a method which I hope will let me frame the shot similarly next time).

Clear skies!

[bonus Sirius pic, my focusing test]

Orion mk4.tiff

[JemC]

Well done Pipnina,

chuffed you should be, i prefer the 1st image, i think it is very well captured,

[Sunshine]

Very nice!

[cletrac1922]

4 hours ago, JemC said:

Well done Pipnina,

chuffed you should be, i prefer the 1st image, i think it is very well captured,

Like first as well

 

 

[Jannis]

Very nice! Lots of DSOs visible in the image.

If it's the flats that are over-correcting, I would probably try to take new flats without using the computer screen and see how that works.

[wxsatuser]

A quick dabble with the tif.

Quite a bit of colour noise but you caught some good stuff.

[pipnina]

7 hours ago, Jannis said:

Very nice! Lots of DSOs visible in the image.

If it's the flats that are over-correcting, I would probably try to take new flats without using the computer screen and see how that works.

I've heard 2 pieces of paper help up to a sunlit window works? Should I try that?

6 hours ago, wxsatuser said:

A quick dabble with the tif.

Quite a bit of colour noise but you caught some good stuff.

 

That's a nice process! You've brought out the colour a fair bit neater than I did and brought out colour in the loop.

The colour noise might be DSS or my camera's fault, or just a need for more exposure. My camera is bottom range & 6 years old so.

[pipnina]

Re-took my flats, they still aren't perfect but this is definitely an improvement! Some wispy filaments seem to have appeared under the belt stars, a lot of dusty background looks to have shown up around M42 and between IC434 & the loop.

Can't wait to add more data to this... If the weather allows me

[john2y]

Awesome pic but I would wait for more data before you stretch it so much. I fiddled with the tiff a bit and I think that when you focus more on the Horsehead and Orion it will look better. I reduced stars and the CA and balanced colours a bit. 

[cletrac1922]

When u imaging

 

U also taking same number of dark shots as light shots

Dark shots with lens cap on

Improves background and reduces noise