M42 - Results at last.

[Dave]

Phew!! The EQ6 is finally performing as expected.

Thanks to a faulty extension cable, I have been having all sorts of problems with it up to now.

Now I have set the scope up without this lead in place, it behaves impeccably.

Here is a result of M42 and the Running Man Nebula taken through my Skywatcher Equinox 80mm on the mount.

20x1 minute sub-frames.

(click to enlarge)

Need to work a bit more on this, but certainly showing real promise if I collect more data.

[Psychobilly]

Nice result from a single sub albeit long sub

Glad you have got the issues sorted and look forward to sseing more images soon

Billy..

[steppenwolf]

Excellent - pleased you have the mount problem resolved.

[daz]

Wahaay Dave!!!

Was this through the Nikon? Great result - glad you got the issue sorted

Still up for a get together at some point??

[Trevor N]

Lovely image. It's great when all the gear works as it should. Is everyone else like me and waits at each session with fingers crossed untill it all starts to happen ? Trevor

[CELESCOPE]

Thats very nice indeed Dave , well processed ,excellent result.

Rog

[barkis]

Tis indeed a lovely image of M42 Dave.

Was a dslr camera used?

Ron.

[Dave]

It's a Nikon D300 DSLR.

I bought a stronger blower yesterday to get rid of that dust on the sensor, so hopefully my next efforts will be better.

I was really pleased considering the awful light pollution I have.

Must get more data next time too.

[RichieJarvis]

Very nice

Glad to hear the EQ6 is back on its feet after its power problems!

I think your right about crossing fingers and praying - I do it every night I go out! Although with practice and a routine things do seem to be getting more reliable (or maybe less PEBKAC's!)

Good capture.

Cheers,

Richie

[Psychobilly]

I wondering is the long subs are the way to go... Its great to see that the mount and camera can do them but under our less than ideal skies I have cut back and tend to keep the subs betwen 3-6 minutes but will occasionally do longer at lower ISO when theres no risk of the ocassional cloud drifting across the FOV.... I preffer to throw away the od 6 minutes ub ratehr than a 20 minute one...

Stacking loads of medium lrnght subs also helps with the "random" noise elements...

I wonder what others think...?

Billy...

[RichieJarvis]

Longer subs = more detail caught, but also more noise to contend with... however, short subs + stacking reduces the Signal to noise ratio.

Theres an interesting article here (pdf) which graphs the benefits of the 2 methods...

I think I am going to try sticking to 5 minute subs from now on - just lots of em!

Cheers,

Richie

[Psychobilly]

Thanks for the link RJ seems I'm doing soemthing right then....

Billy...

[Dave]

I had another play at using layer masks and unsharp masking on this image to take out the overdone center of the nebula. Oh for a properly dark sky... Sigh!!!

(click to enlarge)

Dave

[Tim]

Thats a cracking start Dave! Really well done. Nice when you get over problems.

Peter, its 20 x 1 minute, not 1 x 20min I did take some 25 min subs of M42 a while back, using the cooled camera, but the LP gradient was very very noticeable, it seemed to me, more so than with 25 x 1 min stacked subs.

[Psychobilly]

lol ... def need a trip to spec savers ... either that or its not only my typing thats A over T ...

Billy :withstupid:

[MartinB]

Lovely work Dave, shows that the mount is definitely working for you.