M45

[Maxrayne]

My first attempt at M45 on the SW SA. Still pretty noisy, and I'll have a ton more data to add when I can get back out. But I'm happy with this for the time being. And actually had a decent PA for once (just didn't have enough battery to start increasing exposure length and mess about)

EXIF:

Nikon D5300

300mm @ f / 5.6

ISO 800

2070 seconds @ 30 second subs (no darks etc)

Bortle 5

Stacked in Sequator. Edited in LightRoom

[Atreta]

Nice image. A good thing to do also is to dither between frames to avoid that kind of noise (walking noise).  You move the mount a few pixels on a random pattern and when you stack you choose sigma clipping and it will help a lot. 

Are you using any software to manage the imaging session? Apt can do dithering automatically alongside with phd2. 

 

[Maxrayne]

39 minutes ago, Atreta said:

Nice image. A good thing to do also is to dither between frames to avoid that kind of noise (walking noise).  You move the mount a few pixels on a random pattern and when you stack you choose sigma clipping and it will help a lot. 

Are you using any software to manage the imaging session? Apt can do dithering automatically alongside with phd2. 

 

Not atm no. Just pretty much the SW SA and a D5300. Still getting my head around trying to get anything on screen when I use the ASI ? 

[rockinrome]

Great image.
As the region is quite bright I would be tempted to bring the exposure down to (say) 15 / 20 sec. leaving at ISO 800. This will help to keep the bright stars under control during processing.
If using Deep Sky Stacker (DSS) Dark and Bias frames would massively too to reduce noise and hot (and cold) pixels.

All the best.

[happy-kat]

You've got the dust stuff there, very nice.

I've found Sequator can sometimes amplify the blue halo on bright stars, try a process using deep sky stacker to compare what works best for you.

[Maxrayne]

Thanks guys. DSS and me fell out sadly and we're currently undergoing a trial separation for creative reasons. Had another shot at it last night but the atmosphere was god-awful to the point where I'm pretty sure I wasted 3 hours of my life. Had a go at combining the data from the original image and last night's to see if I could improve it...,meh