Orion's Sword (M42) first go

[jonathancd]

Just thought I would let you see my first go of M42. Pretty happy with it but the colour seems washed out. Not sure why that is, I have played with it in photoshop to no avail., maybe just need more subs. 10 mins of imaging stacked in deep sky stacker with darks only.

Equinox 80 on Nexstar SE mount

Canon 400d

Skywatcher LP filter

(click to enlarge)

thanks

Jonathan

[ChrisEdu]

I didn't get to see that tonight. It was hiding behind the trees when I went looking.

[Psychobilly]

A nice capture.

Whats the exposure info Jonathan?

I know this sounds daft but M42 is an easy target to capture but very trick to get the balance between the Trap reigion and the outer nebulosity. Unless you use a mix of exposures and soem fancy processing then you cant get both. Its a target that everyone keeps going back to time after time...

Rotate the camera through 90 degrees next time and move M42 slightly below center an you will then get the running man nebula nicely in the image as well

Billy...

[steppenwolf]

This is a nice image especially for a 'first'! If by 'washed out' you mean the core is burnt out, this is typical of this object as the Trapezium region is so bright in comparison with the outer filamentary regions and without cunning processing techniques it is difficult to get both right at the same time! If you are concerned by the colour, i.e. the lack of red, this is because of the harsh infra red (IR) filter in the camera and the colours that you have captured are typical for a DSLR image of this object and very attractive they are too.

[Beyond_Vision]

Great first attempt of the sword Jonathan.

In DSS adjust the saturation to around 17% then save with adjustments applied. This should improve the colour.

Regards

Kevin

[jonathancd]

Thanks for the tips guys. This is certainly an object that I will be trting again over the winter. The sub were a mix some jus 8 sec and others up to 30 but they were all bunged into DSS together. Moon and skyglow prevented me doing any longer subs. I assume I will get better nebulosity, patricularly around the running man when the moon is not around.

Look forward to sharing more of my efforsts in future.

thanks

Jonathan

[LostNSpace]

Nice image for your 1st attempt at M42 Johnathan.......

Mark

[Psychobilly]

Hi Jonathan,

DSS doesn't really seem to be capaable of stacking different length exposures to give the desired HDR (High Dynamic Range) effect that your after.

Stack the different length subs into seperate files and combine these using layering techniques in your image processing software - what are you using?

Billy...

Here's one of my HDR attempts from a few weeks ago...

[barkis]

Yes, I agree with the other guys, you have done a very good job of your first effort at this very popular DSO.

There is no substitute for experience, in both imaging, and processing. You have made a great start Jonathen.

Ron.

[trudie]

Thats a great 1st go Jonathan.

Trudie

[jgs001]

Good first go Jonathan. Yet to try this myself, was hoping for a shot last night, but the clouds had other ideas.

[RobH]

A fine start Jonathan. M42 is one of those benchmarks that you can test your skills on year after year.

Cheers

Rob

[Taff]

Hi Jonathan' thats a nice picture of M42.Taff