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M42 fom SGL6...my first Orion Nebula

MG1

By MG1
in Imaging - Deep Sky

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MG1

MG1

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Well even though it was sinking fast by the time I got going I thought I would have a crack at the Orion Nebula as it's a nice big target to test out my processing on.

I managed to get 5x300s lights @ ISO 800 to which I added 25 Darks, 30 Flats & 30 Dark Flats.

This was all stacked in DSS and then I played with curves in PS CS3 for the first time thanks to a good long chat with Kev on Sunday morning.

I'm pretty happy with this as a first crack with a low target and only 25min of data....but after Kev introduced me to Pixinsight and Harry's superb video tutorials I think I will be spending some time playing with that too.:D

Now that I seem to have finally cracked tracking/guiding and software issues I should hope to start getting a few more things uploaded.:rolleyes:

Please be gentle but any advice welcomed...:D

Thanks again Kev for all your help. If you get a chance to post your version of this using Pixinsight I'd love to see what you've been able to do.

Thanks for looking :icon_eek:

Michael

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MG1

MG1

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Hi Mike,

could you send me the un modded FITS file direct from DSS? I've removed your images from my pc lol. I would like a go at it.

....of course Kev. Although it is a MAAAAAAASIVE file (over 150Mb IIRC :rolleyes:) so might be better posted if you PM me an address. or if you have somewhere I could upload to?

I think tonight I will request a trial of pixinsight.... :icon_eek:

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Photosbykev

Photosbykev

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....of course Kev. Although it is a MAAAAAAASIVE file (over 150Mb IIRC :rolleyes:) so might be better posted if you PM me an address. or if you have somewhere I could upload to?

I think tonight I will request a trial of pixinsight.... :icon_eek:

Hi mike use one of the free file hosting sites and pm me a link to it please. Personally I use Mediafire

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MG1

MG1

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Thanks Jon, it's not quite there yet, but I'm happy with what we're starting to get now. I'm sure I can get more out of this when I start to understand my tools a little better....but as you noticed I'm quite a perfectionist and really want to learn how to get even more out of our kit...:D

I ended up re stacking in DSS and outputting as a FITS file. Then downloaded fits liberator to bring it into PS CS3.

It took me a while to then appreciate how to get the 'image planes' in as a colour image as all of my first attempts were monochrome. I assumed that plane 1=Red, 2=Green and 3=Blue, but if anyone else knows otherwise please let me know!

I applied a total of 12 adjustments level (are these cumulative?) which were mainly curves, some levels and (please don't shout at me) a little tweak with brightness and contrast :D

I did creat a quick mask to preserve the core a little, but I was rushing about because Jen picked up a bug and probably could do that better.

I also imported a DSS created star mask and used that to aplly and then fade slightly a minimum 1px filter.

The original stars were a little brighter but distracted a little as I raised the levels in the nebulosity. When I checked against Stellarium, the original image picks up some very feint stars indeed...around mag 15.7-16, which I expected to be beyond the resolving power of our scope (quoted at limiting mag of 14.5)

Great result Michael!

Your processing looks spot on to me! Kept the trapiezium whilst brining out the outer dust! :rolleyes:

Keep up the good work!

Michael

Thanks Michael that's vey kind of you :D ....but you must have better eyes than me as I reckon it's gone a little too far on the core, there is still more detail to get out I reckon...and some shorter exposures will help there. But I might wait now until autumn when Orion is higher up and I'm not fighting against poor lateral seeing.

I should also note that all weekend I was shooting through my CLS filter which may or may not have helped:icon_scratch:

Does anyone have any suggestions of where to look for some additional advice on using curves and creating multiple versions to better preserve core details? I ended up just playing really but if I can get a good work flow going I'll be a lot happier with what I'm doing.....

I have to admit though, it has made me even more in awe of the fantastic images that others are posting...:icon_eek:

It's hard work isn't it!

:D

Thanks again for your comments

Michael

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MG1

MG1

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Very nice Mike

It looked good on screen the other night but it's even better now - those colours are really vibrant.

Shame you couldn't stay - Sunday night was the best of the week skywise.

Regards

Rob

Cheers Rob, glad you like it. I now understand that capturing is only half the battle. Boy is processing complex. Lots of little tweaks and then some...I just can't wait to throw a load more data at it.

It did get me wondering, have we ever had any online workshops?

If we could get some of the regular imagers to contribute some old fits files we could spend a month trying out different techniques etc. with everyone posting their work.

Whatdayathink?

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MG1

MG1

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Shame you couldn't stay - Sunday night was the best of the week skywise.

I had a horrible feeling you'd say that! We did pop over before we left, but I think you must have had your head down....! Roll on Kielder and a cold crisp week!

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MG1

MG1

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Thanks again for the comments guys...Yes it probably wasn't the most sensible target with it being so low in the sky, but I couldn't resist as it's just so colourful....I must have been nuts over the weekend as I also had a go at sombrero (M104)...D'oh.

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