M42, M43 and the Running Man

[jgs001]

I managed to get a lot more data and subs last night, 2 hours.. but had to hair dryer the objectives 4 times... I really need some dew tapes... I lost about 4 or 5 subs to the dew. Anyway... I also messed up the processing and forgot to include my core image in the stack, deselected as the reference frame and couldn't align it... so have to restack and reprocess later, I used the burn tool to force down the burnt out core on this one... And ended up finishing as Orion moved behind the bird feeder...

25x5 minutes @ ISO800

Imaging: Celestron 80ED, Canon 450d, SW LPR, Nebulosity

Guiding: Konus Vista 80s, QHY5v, PHD

Mount: HEQ5

there will be another rendition of this later with the core data added in..

[GothicFighter]

Beautiful image.

What software have you used for stacking?

[Stephen Greenfield]

Looks great and some nice detail at the core, well done!. Did some last night on the astrotrac but at iso 1600 and a 4 minute sub ended up with burnt out core and noisy picture because of the ISO, will try on 800 tonight weather permitting

[russ]

That's very nice John. Is it taken with the C80ED? And were you guiding?

[jgs001]

Thanks all..

Gothic, Deep Sky Stacker.

Russ... Yes and Yes... I forgot all the details in the post, I'll add them in... but as it's not finished, needing a restack etc...

[russ]

John, i notice you have Nebulosity. Do you mind me asking why you don't use that for stacking? I have the demo of Nebulosity 2 and love it, reminds me of Imagesplus. Had mixed results with Deepskystacker, Nebulosity is so much easier.

[jgs001]

Just getting into Nebulosity... I'm using it for capture control at present linked to PHD for Dithering. I've not played with the processing options as yet, DSS always seemed to work fine so far.

[russ]

I always end up with a washed out image in DSS. I need to have a play with the settings.

[jgs001]

That's always what DSS displays, but I ignore that and save with settings embedded not applied, then edit it PS.

[russ]

Right, okay John. Will give that a try.

[astroimpulse]

Lovely image. [/understatement]

Can I ask...is your 450D modded?

Hopefully this will be the first DSO I attempt (very soon) but it's getting low in the sky.

[Penfold]

That is excellent stuff.

Is that full frame or cropped?

[adamsp123]

lovely image John with super detail showing

[jgs001]

Thanks guys..

Sy, my camera is not modded.

Mark, It's nearly full frame, I used the lens correction filter to "fix" my non flat field and you lose a little around the edges when you do that.

I've just finished another version of this, and added the core image I produced... and tried a few other little tricks and things..

Details are as in the first post.

[Penfold]

Mark, It's nearly full frame, I used the lens correction filter to "fix" my non flat field and you lose a little around the edges when you do that.

That's interesting, surprised you get so much in view, thanks.

Great update as well.

[swag72]

There's great detail in that John, I love the dust, looks like you could fall into it and touch it. Thanks for sharing that.

[jgs001]

Thanks Mark.. 600mm with an APS-C size sensor.. M31 just fits across the diagonal.

Thanks very much Sara. I'd like to add at least one more nights data to it, see if I can get anymore of the real faint stuff pulled out.. Maybe try 10 minute subs..

[Ford Prefect]

Very nice indeed John, well worth those late nights

[jgs001]

Thanks Jon, only one late night on this one... I didn't use the cloudy night data in this... Whilst the large glowing effect is quite nice, it wasn't what I was really after .

[ashworthacca]

They're cracking them John with the second showing great detail in the core.

Regarding dew....get yourself some neoprene and knock up some dew shields. I used it one my ED80 and ST80 the other night and got no dew on the objectives at all even after being outside from 6pm to 4am. The scopes were covered on the outside though so i'd definitely recommend it.

[jgs001]

Thanks very much Martin, so you put dew shields on your dew shields ?

[ashworthacca]

Thanks very much Martin, so you put dew shields on your dew shields ?

I know it sounds daft but yes! Just extended them both a couple of inches longer than the ones already on the ota and bingo, kept the objective dry all night.

[jgs001]

Cool... I'll look at that. Thanks Martin.

[Taff]

Nice Capture John' of M42 area.Nice and sharp with you nice colour.Mark

[jgs001]

Thanks Mark