M42, at last something half decent

[alan potts]

Had a couple of goes at this this year and got miserable results due to poor focus and poor technique with the Borg and poor guiding on a night that actually looked good. I had a similar night last night and after having a think. Many members have helped me no end. I decided to spend time and line up the guide camera, which was a fair distance out. Then did a re calibration, things seemed better after this. I just don't know how this guide scope keeps moving, seem well bolted down.

So M42 with the 183mc 16x 3mins with darks at a modest minus 5 and no flats. Taken at 635mm on the 115mm APO, the ghosting that I was getting last year when using this reducer seems to have gone, never did find out what it was.

I only masked the core and didn't bother with the twin exposure method.

 

Advice always welcome,

Alan

[Laurin Dave]

Very nice Alan, I'd say your best yet..  my only advice would be to stick with what is working - which this setup clearly is.

Dave

[geeklee]

Lovely image.  Great colour and the structure & depth to the nebula is awesome.  The dark dust is really coming through as well.

[Adreneline]

Excellent result Alan - love the depth and clarity and gentle colouring. Personally I don't like an 'in your face' Orion - yours is great.

Adrian

[don4l]

I like it.

The core often looks over processed.  This image looks nicely balanced and delicate.  You should be very pleased.

Edited March 18, 2020 by don4l

[Sunshine]

Half decent?? uh uh, you've left "half decent" in the dust, beautiful shot! i wonder if it is possible to achieve anything close to this with my 115 Orion and my Vixen GP non computerized mount. Using my 5D Canon, my mount can track but, it is basically a clutch activated motor, i have to try when the weather warms up.

Edited March 18, 2020 by Sunshine

[alan potts]

Your all so very kind, just think I hit the right buttons processing this time, tried a few of my own moves in PS on this one. To go back to David's statement, stick with what you know, Dave has given me loads of help and at times kept me going. He is right though this scope really out preforms my others, and after owning it for 10 years and even dropping on concrete once, I sort of love it. It's not that though the other scopes can give good results and I will keep banging my head against the wall and maybe one day i will be as good as some of you are, there are some class imaging acts on SGL.

Alan

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Yes that really is a great image Alan.

Steve

[Brian28]

Cracking shot Alan ..

[Ruud]

I think it's beautiful.

[alan potts]

I am a little surprised how good this 183mc is at these tight crop type shots on this reduced 115mm APO which is normally 805mm. I have to say after buying it i was seeing a few on site that didn't really seem to like the camera, maybe even Zwo didn't as we now have a sort of replacement model. Amp glow often criticised but with darks I don't see a problem in my images,. I think I will put the 183 back on tonight and have another go at Thor's Helmet with the same scope as M42 above. The very small pixels 2.4um just work at 635mm with .79 reducer in the mix. Thor's head gear looked rather lost with the 071 so looks clear again later for the night..

Alan 

[carastro]

Really great result Alan, you stuck at it and it's all coming together now.

Carole 

[alan potts]

1 minute ago, carastro said:

Really great result Alan, you stuck at it and it's all coming together now.

Carole 

You helped along the way, still not happy with that Borg 77EDll, I am getting a new Stellamira 85mm early next month so something else to play with. Sound a bit over the top the amount of gear I have but we do get a lot of clear sky here so at least it gets used. However now I am hooked on this the other scopes are dust collecting, I would sell a couple but there is just no market here compared to England.

Alan

[astro mick]

That is a cracking M42 Alan,you must be well chuffed with that.I know I would be.

Exerllent.

Mick.

[alan potts]

7 hours ago, astro mick said:

That is a cracking M42 Alan,you must be well chuffed with that.I know I would be.

Exerllent.

Mick.

Kind of you to say Mick, I didn't think that much to it at first, it was one of those nights where little went right, had a lot of guiding issues, maybe it was just a poor night. I feel I processed it better than I normally do, I always find this stage very hit and miss, maybe I need to be more disciplined.

Alan

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Stop being so self critical Alan there is some fantastic detail in the image and you should be proud of it. 

Steve