Orion Nebula (M42) 19 Jan

[Adam1234]

Hi all, I present my first proper image taken on Sunday with the EQ mount that I bought over Christmas (Meade LXD75 with 6 inch Newtonian reflector) - M42 the Orion Nebula. I attempted to take some images of the Blue Snowbell Nebula and Crab Nebula as well, but I haven't processed them yet so don't know how they will turn out, if I don't post anything on them - then they didn't turn out so well 🤣

I'm still practicing the polar alignment so haven't got it spot on yet, and only polar aligned using the polar scope so I was still getting slight star trails at 30s, but I'm pleased with this result. 

The image is a stack of about 66 x 30s lights, 30 darks and 15 bias, taken with Canon 2000d. Stacked in DSS with levels/curves adjustments in photoshop. I had to crop the image a bit to get rid of some of the light from the 3 street lamps outside my garden.

Next steps -

1) Improve polar alignment using the drift alignment method and see what results I get

2) Improve on focusing with the bahtinov mask I've got being delivered.

 

Hope you guys like the image, comments welcome :)

Adam

 

[tooth_dr]

Class! You can see the texture, colour and depth coming through.   A mask will make life very simple to get focus exact.  A great start indeed!

 

Adam. 

[orion25]

I agree with Adam. Nice work! Love the color and texture of the nebula!

Reggie

[wimvb]

52 minutes ago, Adam1234 said:

EQ mount

Very nice image! Which eq mount do you have? If it is a goto mount, it's very much possible that it has a polar alignment function. This will be much faster than drift alignment. 

[Adam1234]

Thanks for the comments 😀

7 hours ago, wimvb said:

Very nice image! Which eq mount do you have? If it is a goto mount, it's very much possible that it has a polar alignment function. This will be much faster than drift 

I've got the Meade LXD75. It's got a built in polar scope which I used to get a rough polar alignment.

When you say a function, do you mean within the hand controller? I do recall it did say something about the NCP after I did a 3 star alignment actually, I'll have to look and see how to interpret that info.

Edited January 22, 2020 by Adam1234

[wimvb]

1 hour ago, Adam1234 said:

When you say a function, do you mean within the hand controller?

Yes, it's probably named "polar alignment" or "all star polar alignment". 

Any polar alignment procedure will require you to center a star using the azimuth and altitude knobs on your mount, not the keys on your hand controller.

Edited January 22, 2020 by wimvb

[carastro]

Great start.  An EQ mount is the way to go for Astrophotography.  As is guiding, I presume your mount is capable of guiding, you'll be able to do longer subs and get perfectly round stars.

Well done, much better than my first attempt.

Carole 

[Adam1234]

2 hours ago, wimvb said:

Yes, it's probably named "polar alignment" or "all star polar alignment". 

Any polar alignment procedure will require you to center a star using the azimuth and altitude knobs on your mount, not the keys on your hand controller.

I had a look in the instruction manual and it does mention about one star and two star polar alignment. It doesn't actually describe how to do it or mention the altitude and azimuth adjustments, but I imagine the polar alignment function will give me an offset from the NCP, so then I can adjust the altitude/azimuth, redo the alignment and check what effect it had on the offset and repeat until it says I'm aligned?

[wimvb]

Yes, I found the same. What Meade calls polar alignment, is go to alignment for skywatcher. You can do as you write, but you need to know polar error direction. Is your setup permanent or mobile/grab & go? If mobile, you should consider just using the polar scope. Other methods take time. Unless you throw money at the problem, of course (qhy polemaster). 

[Marvin Jenkins]

Great start. I am really impressed. Just like you I have recently taken my first M42 image but yours is soooo much better. Clearly you have done your homework and it really shows. 

[Adam1234]

2 hours ago, wimvb said:

Yes, I found the same. What Meade calls polar alignment, is go to alignment for skywatcher. You can do as you write, but you need to know polar error direction. Is your setup permanent or mobile/grab & go? If mobile, you should consider just using the polar scope. Other methods take time. Unless you throw money at the problem, of course (qhy polemaster). 

Haha I wish it was a permanent setup! Maybe one day when we buy a house I'll get a dome in the garden! So yeah at the moment I disassemble after each session. I've been using just the polar scope for the last couple sessions, but I'm determined to try out the drift alignment and see how long it takes. If it let's me get 60s exposures with no star trails I would be ecstatic

[Adam1234]

2 hours ago, Marvin Jenkins said:

Great start. I am really impressed. Just like you I have recently taken my first M42 image but yours is soooo much better. Clearly you have done your homework and it really shows. 

Thank you! I probably spend most of my waking hours, except when I'm at work (and actually even when I'm at work) researching astronomy/astrophotography 🤣🤣 I think it's becoming an obsession. Are there any support groups?🤣

Edited January 23, 2020 by Adam1234

[Marvin Jenkins]

I know just what you mean. If it is not Astro related I am just not interested. The other day I was watching the news and there was a report about gay rights and a legal challenge of some sort and according to my wife I referred to the subject as LRGB rights.

Shows that my brain is in Astro mode 100% of the time.

Marv

[Adam1234]

47 minutes ago, Marvin Jenkins said:

I know just what you mean. If it is not Astro related I am just not interested. The other day I was watching the news and there was a report about gay rights and a legal challenge of some sort and according to my wife I referred to the subject as LRGB rights.

Shows that my brain is in Astro mode 100% of the time.

Marv

Hahaha oops.

[wimvb]

7 hours ago, Adam1234 said:

Are there any support groups?🤣

Yes, it's called Stargazers Lounge.

7 hours ago, Adam1234 said:

If it let's me get 60s exposures with no star trails I would be ecstatic

Good polar alignment is important, but if it's longer exposures you want, guiding is the way to go. With that comes the need for a computer. And with that comes the possibility to use software for polar alignment. For example phd, sharpcap, or ekos/kstars.

[Adam1234]

55 minutes ago, wimvb said:

Yes, it's called Stargazers Lounge.

Good polar alignment is important, but if it's longer exposures you want, guiding is the way to go. With that comes the need for a computer. And with that comes the possibility to use software for polar alignment. For example phd, sharpcap, or ekos/kstars.

Until I'm ready to get into guiding, what do you reckon is the longest exposure I could get without the use of guiding?  

[wimvb]

Depending on your focal length, and how critical you are, I'd say about 60 s. When I started out in this hobby, I managed 3 min subs with my 150pds (750 mm fl) on an eq3 goto mount, which I was very pleased with. Now I see that stars were elongated, and I wouldn't be happy with such a result. It depends very much on the mount (quality variance), load & balance, alignment quality, and probably sheer luck.

Guiding has a threshold, but once you're over that you wonder why you waited so long.

[Adam1234]

My focal length is 762mm I believe. I would be more than happy if I can get decent 60s subs.

Even if I had guiding I don't think I could go much above 60s in my garden anyway as I've got 3 street lights causing me grief. I did try a 2min sub and (ignoring the field rotation) it was totally washed out! 

Hopefully will be buying a new house in the next few years, one of my criteria will be a back garden with no nearby street lights, and a decent view north. Hopefully by then my skills will have improved and I'll be into guiding.