3.5 hour WIP of M45

[Spongey]

We had a clear spell the night before last up until about midnight, so I used to time to get some testing done on my new Sesto Senso 2, which worked excellently!

The result was a total of 3.5 hours of half decent data on M45, progressively improving as the target rose out of the light pollution dome. Had a go at processing it despite needing much more data, and was pleased with the result. I can only imagine what a new camera such as the upcoming ASI 2600MM would give in the same time...

Captured with my Esprit 100 and unmodified Canon 6D, riding on a CEM40. 

Processed in PixInsight and Adobe Lightroom

Cheers

Edited November 20, 2020 by Spongey

[geeklee]

Lovely! Plenty to enjoy with the 3.5 hours - nice processing as well to pull out lots of faint stuff without overdoing it at all.

I have 5h tucked away from September I think (!) and am waiting to grab more.  This weekend is looking good but I'm also capturing on another target so we'll see.  I keep seeing these great M45 images for inspiration.

What was it captured with, if you don't mind posting?

Edited November 20, 2020 by geeklee

[Spongey]

Thank you!

11 minutes ago, geeklee said:

What was it captured with, if you don't mind posting?

I have updated the OP with details

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Very nice indeed. Very natural processing

[AstroNtinos]

This is magnificent image. Well done

[Spongey]

I managed to get another 3 hours of useable data on Tuesday night before the clouds rolled in.

Tried to bring out some more contrast between the background and the fainter dust in this process, thanks to the improved integration time.

This may end up being my last image with my 6D for now, as I've placed an order for a QHY 268M!

 

Cheers

Edited January 8, 2021 by Spongey

[david_taurus83]

That looks really nice and clean! What's your LP like? My 6D data looks clean to start with but after I run DBE in Pixinsight to remove the light pollution its a noisy mess!

[Sunshine]

This image is wonderful! something very pure about it, cannot say.

[Spongey]

55 minutes ago, david_taurus83 said:

That looks really nice and clean! What's your LP like? My 6D data looks clean to start with but after I run DBE in Pixinsight to remove the light pollution its a noisy mess!

Thanks! I'm bortle 4/5, with the worst pollution in the west, so sticking to targets as they rise tends to work best. Unfortunately that limits me to ~3-4 hours per night, as soon after the meridian the sub quality gets noticeably worse. 

I typically find that ~3 hours is a minimum to get reasonable data, much less than that and things become very noisy.