[Jasp05 (Aaron)]

Hi guys. Ive been playing with dslr on a heq5 pro mount taking images of m42.

I took some images from backyard (around 1hrs data. Mostly 1 and 2 min subs with a few 30 secs subs thrown in at 800 iso). About 5 dark frames for each exposure were added.

I was quite happy with the result as its my first proper imaging attempt on a decent mount.

However ive added another hours worth of data (similar composition of subs) and really did not see any improvement over the first sessions image.

Is there a limit where adding more exposures becomes futile?

I also had the experience of shooting an hours worth of subs on m42 from a dark site but after stacking (with dark frames, no flats/bias) the image was worse than my exposures under light polluted skies. Came out very grainy like it was noisy. Even though the individual subs looked good. Temp of sensor was the same between both sessions around 36 degrees on my unmodded dslr.

I only use lightroom to edit after stacking so nothing too fancy on the editing side. But what would cause that kind of issue on subs under dark skies? Do i need more exposures or darks to cancel the noise?