Orion - only 12 minutes of data. QHY9

[alpal]

I hadn't been able to do any imaging for more than 2 months.

The clouds came in last night so I only got one 3 minute
frame each of LRGB. I did take 10 x 5 minute frames of Ha
but they were only usable for the luminosity of the core.
I'll know next time to do 20 minute Ha sub-frames.
I am surprised at what the QHY9 can do with an 8" f6 Newt. with so little data.

A larger version 1600 x 1214 pixels is available on my flickr photos.

[Larryp]

Excellent for only 12 minutes!

[Garbz]

Jealous, I'm amazed too. Got close to an hour worth of data on a D800 the other night. Lack of Ha sensitivity and the noise made this far worse than your dramatically shorter image.

Well done. Like the processing too.

[atalas]

Better than no data Al....nice work.

[TheAstroChannel]

ONLY TWELVE MINUTES? damn, that's pretty good!

[alpal]

Thanks Guys,
It was just good to be out there again.

Here is a cropped version of the 10 x 5 minutes Ha stack = 50 minutes.
It's been heavily stretched & also sharpened at 2 pixels.
I would have been better off with 2 x 25 minute frames in the same time
but I was shooting between clouds.
It did help with getting some detail out of the core in the first image.
The trapezium came up nicely as the Ha stars are always small.

[alpal]

I had taken some LRGB shorter duration shots that I hadn't looked at till today.
I ended up combining the 10s & a 60 s RGB subs ( 2 subs for each colour)
with entropy weighted stacking in DSS & used only RGB to make a colour shot of the Trapezium.
(The luminance was blown out too much to use.)
I then combined this improved image in layers into my Orion image
to show the Trapezium better.
The larger new version of Orion is on my flickr photos.
I think it's quite an improvement?
Did I get more than 4 stars?

The first image of The Trapezium is displayed at full resolution but cut down for a .jpg.

[alistairsam]

Thats very nice and sharp.
Would you have a version with and without Ha? would be interesting to see the difference.

[alpal]

Yes - I just processed a 30s & 60s subframe of Ha for the Trapezium.
I stacked them in DSS.
Actually - I can see more stars there but they are faint.
The Ha gives tighter sharper stars.

[stevous67]

Hi Allan,

Looks like the equipment combination is finally all coming along! Congrats. :thumbsup:

Dont forget Heathcote. :question:

Steve

[E_ri_k]

Awesome for only 12 minutes!
Erik

[alpal]

Thanks Steve,
I think I'm ready now for a dark site.
I hope many of us can get pics from Heathcote.

cheers
Allan

[alpal]

Thanks Erik,
Imagine what I could do with 5 hours of data on a target -
I can't wait to try that.
My new QHY9 beats the old Canon easily - even with just a few subrames.

cheers
Allan

[Ross G]

Hi Allan,

Great shot for only 12 minutes.

I know your desperation.

Ross.