M42 from North Cornwall UK

[AstroNebulee]

This is my first image of the M42 Orion Nebula, taken on my skywatcher explorer 150p eq3-2 with zwo asi120mc-s and sharpcap in North Cornwall UK this morning around 4am.  Its only a single frame image, that needs cleaning up a bit but was so excited I wanted to post it now. I've taken lots of captures videos in ser from rgb24, raw 8, raw 16 and mono as didn't really know what I was doing as never imaged a dso before (I've seen a few through the scope but waited till I had this camera), I'm blown away just by this single image, can't wait to stack and process all my other captures. I tried playing about with exposure and gain in sharpcap, but like I say didn't really know what to do, just did what I thought looked pleasing to my eye. Time for a nap now begore the processing begins with deep sky stacker, clear skies 

[Dippy]

1 hour ago, LeeHore7 said:

This is my first image of the M42 Orion Nebula, taken on my skywatcher explorer 150p eq3-2 with zwo asi120mc-s and sharpcap in North Cornwall UK this morning around 4am.  Its only a single frame image, that needs cleaning up a bit but was so excited I wanted to post it now. I've taken lots of captures videos in ser from rgb24, raw 8, raw 16 and mono as didn't really know what I was doing as never imaged a dso before (I've seen a few through the scope but waited till I had this camera), I'm blown away just by this single image, can't wait to stack and process all my other captures. I tried playing about with exposure and gain in sharpcap, but like I say didn't really know what to do, just did what I thought looked pleasing to my eye. Time for a nap now begore the processing begins with deep sky stacker, clear skies 

I have just made it brighter for you and you can already see a lot of nebulosity. The telescope has given you some nice round stars at trapezium. May be by further processing you can bring out more stars in the trapezium.

Edited August 31, 2020 by Dippy

[AstroNebulee]

1 hour ago, Dippy said:

I have just made it brighter for you and you can already see a lot of nebulosity. The telescope has given you some nice round stars at trapezium. May be by further processing you can bring out more stars in the trapezium.

Hi Dippy

Thank you for showing me what that image can look like and your kind comments, like I say this is only one single image frame and bound to be some good improvements once stacked in deep sky stacker and edited.  I'm chuffed to pieces with it and never thought I'd see the Orion nebula ever, clear skies 

[AstroNebulee]

Does anyone know how i stack my tiff file frames and ser files in dss they are just tiff or ser files, i dont know whether they should be light, dark, flat, bias, ive tried to stack in registax 6 but just hangs after 45% and then says not responding.

[PeterCPC]

You only want to take videos of planets not DSOs. DSO imaging is best done with RAW images that you then stack e.g in DSS. Videos of planets are AVIs and you can stack in either Registax or Autostakkert.

Peter

[AstroNebulee]

12 minutes ago, PeterCPC said:

You only want to take videos of planets not DSOs. DSO imaging is best done with RAW images that you then stack e.g in DSS. Videos of planets are AVIs and you can stack in either Registax or Autostakkert.

Peter

Thanks Peter, I was just winging it last night, i have taken some raw 8, raw 16, mono and rgb snapshots in sharpcap will these work

[PeterCPC]

I never mix them up like that but, give it a go and see.

Peter

[AstroNebulee]

Had a go at processing the images a bit, so much to learn on deep sky photography, but will learn it just want to use my scope with my zwo asi120mc-s and take it from there at first, there must be a way, maybe just have to take individual capture as snapshots  as i have with some, but the lights, darks, flats are confusing so more research needed.  I did manage this and this is marginally better than the original.

[Swoop1]

Grab a copy of "Making Every Photon Count" by Steve Richards (available from FLO). A book that makes the sorcery that is astrophotography make sense.

[AstroNebulee]

17 minutes ago, Swoop1 said:

Grab a copy of "Making Every Photon Count" by Steve Richards (available from FLO). A book that makes the sorcery that is astrophotography make sense.

Hi Swoop
Yes i think that will be my next purchase, i just want to learn the basics of dso imaging with my scope and zwo asi120mc-s and not get to involved in it as my mount isnt good enough for that type of imaging.  I just like to take images that I can show to family and friends to say 'hey look what i viewed last night and have a kind of record of it' I'm never going to become or get pin sharp beautify images on like the majority of fantastic astrophotographers on here , they produce truly amazing photos.  Im just amazed at M42 I viewed and captured. I see if i just moved the scope down a fraction i could of got M43 in aswell instead of a faint glow of it at the bottom, thats for next time.

Edited August 31, 2020 by LeeHore7