My first (of many I hope) DSO - M42

[Garbus]

Just thought I would share my first DSO images I took of the Orion Nebula. Not great but better than I expected them to turn out given I had never taken this kind of picture before, and it was completely in the moment without any prep. 

I took these on my Canon 60D with a Canon 18-200mm lens. F3.5 apeture, 1.5 second exposure. The first image was at 1600 ISO, the second at 3200.

The first image has a bit more fine detail, at the cost of losing how big the nebula is and some of the color. The second has a lot more color and shows more of the nebula, but a lot of the detail is lost in the brighter area in the center. 

Once the weather is nicer I definitely want to have another go at it properly, and take multiple exposures and dark frames to stack them properly.

[Uplooker]

Hi, well done. Are these single exposures or have stacked some.

If multiple exposures, did you use a tracking mount?

Onwards and upwards.

[Garbus]

Just single exposures. I was actually wondering if I keep M42 centered by hand if that would be sufficient to at least stack a couple frames to try and get cleaner results, since I don't have a tracking mount. 

[Uplooker]

Best to limit you exposure to 15 - 20 sec and taking 4 or 5

[happy-kat]

That's a great start.

On a static mount to calculate exposure length with your camera as a guide divide 400 by what ever focal length you put your lens at so you could try as above around 22 seconds at 18mm. Take an image and see if you find the star shapes acceptable.

There no need to try to move the mount DSS Deep Sky Stacker will take care of stacking the images. I don't do darks with my DSLR but prefer to do bias, flats and dark flats.

[Garbus]

Ahh forgot to mention, this was taken at the full 200mm of the lens. I think I mathed it out before and I can only go up to around 2 seconds at that focal length. I may have to move the camera a bit, M42 moves by quite quickly at that magnification. I'm hoping as long as I can keep it roughly in the same place it will be able to align the images. 

Haven't heard of dark flats before, how does it differ from doing a regular dark?

 

[happy-kat]

Dark flats are flats but with the light cut out, lens cap on.

[newbie alert]

15 hours ago, Garbus said:

Ahh forgot to mention, this was taken at the full 200mm of the lens. I think I mathed it out before and I can only go up to around 2 seconds at that focal length. I may have to move the camera a bit, M42 moves by quite quickly at that magnification. I'm hoping as long as I can keep it roughly in the same place it will be able to align the images. 

Haven't heard of dark flats before, how does it differ from doing a regular dark?

 

Trying to move it by hand will give vibrations and therefore camera shake..a star aventurer would be a great investment for you