First try on Orion Nebulae

[waruna]

Hi SGL members,

I hope this is the correct section to post this.

Last night I had my first successful try on Orion Nebula, using only Nikon D5000 AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm lens.

My setting is in manual mode:

1. ISO 1600
2. Exp 8 seconds
3. Aperture F5.6
4. White balance 6000
5. Zoom 200mm
6. Focus on infinity
7. RAW image format

Equipment Setting:

1. DSLR Nikon D500
2. AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm
3. Tripod = Alt-Azimuth Go-to Mount
4. Did all the necessary setting (stars alignment)

The setting is similar like this:

Ok then in order to avoid star trail, in the go-to menu, I choose to track Orion Nebula.

So I take 10 frames x 8 seconds of Light, Dark & Flat. using shutter release cable.

Weather is good. Clear sky no clouds. But exposed with first quarter moon light + few street lights located not so far away from shooting location.

After finished taking all the shots, I only use AutoStakkert to stack the images. Followed the tutorial. After finish, this is the result with no further enhancement:

1. 10 frames x 8 sec (Light, Dark & Flat)

 

2. And this is 10 frames x 8 sec (Light & Dark, no Flat)

 

 

So beginner like me I'm quite impressed considering this is my firsts successful attempt.

Really hope to get feedback from experts here. I know further enhancement using Photoshop, Lightroom etc. will produce a better result but cannot find any basic tutorial for that. And on top of that, I know that using Star Adventurer will produce more and more excellent result, it's just I'm not there just yet.

Please comment, thank you in advance.

Cheers SGL.

[tonyowens_uk]

With respect Waruna the first thing to address for me anyway is the size of your uploaded files. It isnt convenient for some folk to download TIF files of this size. Could you either transcode these to for example PNG's or post links to a neutral hosting location?

Thanks!

 

Tony

[waruna]

3 hours ago, tonyowens_uk said:

With respect Waruna the first thing to address for me anyway is the size of your uploaded files. It isnt convenient for some folk to download TIF files of this size. Could you either transcode these to for example PNG's or post links to a neutral hosting location?

Thanks!

 

Tony

Dear Mr. Tony,

Sorry my bad and mistake ????...

Ok, edited! Thank you for the reminder.

[Waldemar]

Waruna, I agree with Tony, you will not get a lot of feedback if people can not download your images...

On forehand I can say, that darks are not working well for you, because they are depending on the sensor temperature, which is not stable, because you donot have a cooled camera.

[waruna]

5 minutes ago, Waldemar said:

Waruna, I agree with Tony, you will not get a lot of feedback if people can not download your images...

On forehand I can say, that darks are not working well for you, because they are depending on the sensor temperature, which is not stable, because you donot have a cooled camera.

Hi Mr. Waldemar, thank you for the reminder. I've edited the post. Sorry for the mistakes.

So do I need to turn off my dslr auto cleaning sensor setting, take lights, cool my dslr down for a while, then turn on again and take darks?

[Waldemar]

That is better ?
Stacking a lot more shots will give you much better results to start with. This is only 10 x 8 sec = 80 seconds total integration time.
Think about 10 x as many shots, and/or longer exposuretime.  The Star Adventurer, if well polar aligned, should be able to do 1 minute exposure times with a 200 mm lens without problems.

Try and learn, most of all enjoy!

[waruna]

Opps... Sorry my bad again. I've attached wrong photo of equipment setting. Have edited the post once again.

 

9 minutes ago, Waldemar said:

That is better ?Stacking a lot more shots will give you much better results to start with. This is only 10 x 8 sec = 80 seconds total integration time.
Think about 10 x as many shots, and/or longer exposuretime.  The Star Adventurer, if well polar aligned, should be able to do 1 minute exposure times with a 200 mm lens without problems.

Try and learn, most of all enjoy!

Yes, I'm pretty sure with SA mount I can do the longer exposure.
But with my current set up (see updated 1st post), I don't think alt-azimuth go-to mount can do the long exp without leave trailing in stars right?

In another note, thank you very much sir for the tips. So I guess I'll have to take the shots again tonight possibly 100 shots per frame?

[Waldemar]

Hi Waruna, just forget about darks, that is the best. Just use bias and flats. Your camera will not produce the same quality darks every time you take one, becaues the temperature changes too much. The sme goes for the images, so the combination of those irregular darks with also irregular images will not work.
Your results will be better without darks.

Yes, just take more exposures, the more the better. But you can also try how long you can go before you get rotation effects with the Alt/Az mount.

With 200 mm 30 seconds would be no problem, I think. Trial and error will teach you a lot...

[RolandKol]

Nice start Waruma!

Just a few observations.

1) work on Focus... you still not in the perfect zone... not sure if you use PC or do it directly via camera, - simply ZOOM on the Bright star as much as you can and start adjusting focus to get the smallest star possible, test shot, repeat, - simple infinity does not work, - never works. You can also try getting the Bahtinov Mask for your lens... You can order a 3D print if there is no on the market. Or you can try doing one.

2) It looks like your mount is not able to track properly at 200mm, try reducing to 135mm, or keep the same Focal Length, but reduce the exposure time. Check balance, experiment, - maybe longer ones will be available.

3) Darks, - to be honest, I would not agree with the suggestion to get rid of them completely as you cannot match the temp, - you simply need more of them.... much more... With the short exposures, temperature impact is not very large, - the completely different story is with the truly long exposures 3min or more... So simply collect 100darks, 100 Bias and re-use them, - ISO has to match, and of course, Exposure Time of Darks. Of course, you can always experiment in this field and choose what works best for you. If you will go for longer exposures in the future, try doing darks as close to the imaging temp as possible, - test, decide, - use or delete.

4) Software:

         4.1. not sure how you stack DSO with autostakertt, this one is usually used for planets. Try Deep Sky Stacker also, it is a flagship software for DSO stacking in a free software market.

        4.2. try Astrophotography Tool (APT) - software to control your camera and the whole imaging session, - the demo version has no term, simply some options will be disabled. At the end I paid for APT even after decision to move to another one, - just a thank you gesture. it is not expensive anyway.

5) Most saddest one: try looking for a second hand EQ mount with an option of guiding, -  if you are truly interested.  

 

P.S. if at the end you will still see a bit distorted stars, - like little seagulls, think of supporting your lens, it may be a bit too long and heavy.