Sword of Orion, a very late posting

[Horwig]

This is my first image in over a year, I've nearly forgotten how to do them.

This was taken over nine frustrating nights in January and February, some nights only one sub was kept! There was constant cloud fronts passing through, and as soon as I gave up and de-rigged the kit, the sky would clear, very frustrating.

So anyway, finally got down to processing it, PI was not playing ball, (I had to get the book out I was so rusty). I kept getting black flecks, especially after sharpening, so in the end I gave up and manually removed them is PS.

Kit was my usual, FSQ106 at 380mm with SX35 camera and Astronomik filters on AZ EQ6.

Subs were from 10sec to 1200sec Lum, a total of 4 hours and 3hours of Ha in 30 minute subs. Software was SGP and PHD for aquisition, PI and PS for processing.

The RGB had horrible halos from the brighter stars, so I didn't use it, instead borrowed some RGB from a four year old slightly wider image taken with a 300mm lens and this camera.

There were camera issues when that image was taken, it affected the luma, but the RGB was OK.

It's nice to have something to post after so long.

 

Huw

 

[Ouroboros]

Tell me about it! If I image a few times a year I'm lucky. 

I like that. Marvellous wide field image. Maybe the Orion neb is a tad blown out. Can you back that off a bit? But generally there's a lovely amount of detail across the image. 

[Horwig]

3 minutes ago, Ouroboros said:

Maybe the Orion neb is a tad blown out.

Agreed, it's a little bit in your face?

[Ouroboros]

@Horwig Can it be fixed in processing? Or is the raw data saturated? 

[Horwig]

No I have subs all the way from 10 seconds up, It's my cack handed work at the computer I'm afraid

[carastro]

Quite stunning.  If you can re-do Orion as discussed above, it will be amazing.

Carole 

[Horwig]

Ok, a bit subtler (hopefully)

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Wow!!!!

I thought the image in the first post was amazing but the second image is better still. The Orion Nebula especially looks better.

Steve

[Horwig]

What's interesting is that the main body of nebulosity is now under control, but compared to the original I'm not sure if the transition from dust to the illuminated region is as smooth, I guess I'll have to play some more

[Startinez]

That last picture looks sensational to me.

[Ouroboros]

Orion neb much better there. The detail is obviously in the data isn't it.  It is an amazing image. It really shows how much there is of the dusty  illuminated material there is in that region, and the huge extent it stretches over. 

[Allinthehead]

Wow that's an eye catcher. 

11 hours ago, Horwig said:

What's interesting is that the main body of nebulosity is now under control, but compared to the original I'm not sure if the transition from dust to the illuminated region is as smooth, I guess I'll have to play some more

I think i agree. Orion has gone a little magenta too. 

[Horwig]

Thanks for all the observations and kind words, it's good to get feedback.

I processed this using batch pre-process in PI, and something went wrong somewhere, the results are peppered with black snow, especially when sharpened. When I get time I'm going to go back to square one and start again. I think this will be worth the time spent on it.

[ollypenrice]

This is a great comeback. It's a very hard target because of the high dynamic range and the sheer scope of the field.

Olly