First Light Ha on M42

[BlueAstra]

Went out last night to have my first try with a Ha filter (still waiting for my filter wheel for the H16). Thought I'd set everything up, but later found I'd left the focus mask on the C8 'guidecam', and hadn't fine focussed the ED80! However, PHD still guided OK, and the focus lock on the ED80 hadn't moved since last use so everything seemed OK. Anyway, as a first try I did 20x300,100,50,10s on M42 to see the effect of the filter, and practise my layering technique in PS. I know I should really do longer with the Ha, but I wanted a quick first look.

So here is the composite of the above exposures, on the ED80 + Ha + 0.8FR + H16. Guided by the OAG on the C8. PHD guiding, SNight telescope control, Maxim DL camera control. Just need some colour now!

[ollypenrice]

Very very interesting. I have only ever imaged this in Ha in very widefield shots. It is radically different from in RGB. I'm watching what follows with great curiosity!

The layering looks super though the cutoff to a dark background is sudden. But that may well just be how it is. The outer, fading, portions may be mainly reflection.

Olly