First Attempt at the Horsehead

[Daf1983]

This is my attempt at the Horsehead Nebula. About 3 hours of data gathered over 2 nights during full moon, using the l-enhance filter. I also used my Canon 600d and evostar 80ED. 

Could probably do with a bit more data, so it's a bit noisy. But time and clear nights are at a premium😔

As always, CC welcome.

Dafydd

[Elp]

That's a nice pic, well done

[Jerry Barnes]

looks good to me, nicely composed and little noise for only 3 hours.  I do like the l-enhance as well.  When the next clear night arrives do you add more time to this or go for another target?  Not an easy choice given what you have shown us.

[RoloFanatic]

That looks great! 

Do you mind if I ask what mount did you use for this image, and also how long were the exposures?

Im thinking of trying the horsehead for the first time myself with a similar scope and a DSLR 😛

[maw lod qan]

Wonderful image of an incredible object!

[Daf1983]

12 hours ago, Jerry Barnes said:

looks good to me, nicely composed and little noise for only 3 hours.  I do like the l-enhance as well.  When the next clear night arrives do you add more time to this or go for another target?  Not an easy choice given what you have shown us.

Thanks for the kind words! That's a very good question. At the minute I'm saving for a dedicated camera (probably a 533 or 294mc pro). So in the meantime I tend to spend 3-4 hours on each object before moving on, just to gain some experience and develop my (limited) skills before I get a new camera. When I get a new camera, I will probably spend a lot more time on each target to get the best picture possible

[Daf1983]

36 minutes ago, RoloFanatic said:

That looks great! 

Do you mind if I ask what mount did you use for this image, and also how long were the exposures?

Im thinking of trying the horsehead for the first time myself with a similar scope and a DSLR 😛

Thanks. I use a HEQ5, and used 5 minute exposures. I tend not go over that (even though I could, because the guiding is quite good), because I get noise/banding in my 600d. I use even shorter subs when not using the l-enhance (2-3 minutes usually), again because of the camera rather than the mount

[Clarkey]

7 hours ago, Daf1983 said:

noise/banding in my 600d.

Yes I know the problem.

Nice image though. I think it is pretty good for 3 hours with a DSLR.

[Daf1983]

56 minutes ago, Clarkey said:

Yes I know the problem.

Nice image though. I think it is pretty good for 3 hours with a DSLR.

It really is a pain! This alone makes me want to drop a grand on a dedicated camera

[Clarkey]

2 minutes ago, Daf1983 said:

This alone makes me want to drop a grand on a dedicated camera

Sell a body part and do it. Dedicated astro camera's are a big step up in my opinion.

[StuartT]

6 minutes ago, Daf1983 said:

It really is a pain! This alone makes me want to drop a grand on a dedicated camera

Do it. You'll not regret it

[Daf1983]

😂 I will definitely buy a dedicated camera eventually, I'm trying to be sensible and not put more astro stuff on the credit card😁 I think I'll have saved enough money by the summer. Still can't decide between the 294 and 533mc pro though

[alacant]

10 hours ago, Daf1983 said:

noise/banding in my 600d

Lovely shot.

Don't forget to lose any type of dark frame, dither around 15 pixels between each exposure and stack with a clipping algorithm.

That should kill the banding and reduce a lot of noise.

Cheers and HTH.

 

[Daf1983]

9 minutes ago, alacant said:

Lovely shot.

Don't forget to lose any type of dark frame, dither around 15 pixels between each exposure and stack with a clipping algorithm.

That should kill the banding and reduce a lot of noise.

Cheers and HTH.

 

No dark frames used on this. With regards to dithering, for some reason it hasn't worked on ekos during my last couple of sessions, and I'm not sure why. There's a lot of hot pixels in the image aswell, which I assume dithering would cure.

Something I need to fix, but is hard to do without actually having clear skies to image. 

[alacant]

10 hours ago, Daf1983 said:

hard to do without actually having clear skies to image

Hi

No need to have clear skies. Check every bit of your method using the EKOS simulators.
On your actual profile, don't forget the check the dither box.

10 hours ago, Daf1983 said:

a lot of hot pixels in the image aswell, which I assume dithering would cure

Yes, very much so. the 18Mp eos sensor responds well to the dither. Nice clean images, easy to process.

Cheers and HTH