First astro image again

[Dealy]

My first astro image again after stacking and a bit of processing in Gimp.

Taken with a Canon 1000D on an ED80. 8 x 5m images at ISO800, plus a couple shorter exposures to tame the core a bit.

Thanks to Chris85 for a few tips :thumbsup:

I'm sure there is more that can be done with it to bring out some finer details but at the moment I'm stoked with the results.

Kev

[acarleton]

Fantastic, i am jealous!

[ZeroID]

Hey, pretty damn good !! Well done.

[SimmoW]

Ace!

[Andy01]

You're enjoying yourself I see, good one!

[barx1963]

I love that. There are lots of deep long exposures of this field but to show the nebula sitting on a lovely black sky with the faintness of the wisps around NGC 1977 (Running Man) and the faints wisps extending towards Iota Orionis is magnificent.

Well done on a lovely image.

Malcolm

[leon]

you should be stoked, an excellent image, well done indeed.

Leon

[Legin]

Nice image and one of my favourite subjects.

[BruceG]

Good one Kev. It is so addictive once you get started !
I really like your interpretation. You will literally see hundreds of these and they will all be different. A winner me thinks :)

[Dealy]

Thanks everyone.

Yep I am enjoying myself and it is addictive, I've only been at it for a week or two and I'm hooked.

I really don't know exactly what I'm doing in Gimp yet, just trying different things I see in tutorials.

It certainly is a beautiful nebula to capture.

[BruceG]

That puts you exactly where I am, discovering gimp by trial and error (more errors than trial). I have only had 4 imaging sessions so far and the last one was a total disaster. Collected around 1/2 hours of data on the carina nebula only to find my focus was way off. I dont have live view - its a 300D -on the plus side it has had the filter removed so it has great sensitivity to Ha. My learning from the night was focus on a BRIGHT star and lock it off before hunting down the target. Anyways, you look like you are doing fine and having fun - thats the main thing - if you learn a bit on the way its a bonus.
Cheers,
Bruce.

[Dealy]

Thanks Bruce,

yeah live view and BYEOS make focusing a breeze. I'll be interested to see your images to see what difference it makes to have the filter removed.

[BruceG]

Hi Dealy,
the 3 images I have so far are here (http://www.astrobin.com/users/BruceG/). One of them is the M42. my first attampt was the Horsehead and Flame nebula. it was only one short subframe and even that had some Ha detail. the later one is 1.2 hours of data. Orion is a total of 20 minutes.
Cheers,
BRuce.

[multiweb]

Excellent shots. :thumbsup:

[Rod771]

Kev! That's a great first effort , well done :thumbsup: You've handled the core nicely.

Bruce, Its definitely worth getting the Backyard EOS program to control the Canon camera. As Kev has mentioned you can focus using the programs live view mode. One thing I do after focusing, is wait 5 to 10 minutes to let the sensor cool down. It heats up very quickly when using live view.

Your pics on Astrobin are great :thumbsup:

[raymo]

Hi Bruce, if you don't have Live View,grab a Bahtinov mask for $35-40,
depending on your scope size. Quick and easy.
raymo

[nebulosity.]

Nice one Kev, You've got a lot of data hiding in there, did you do any stretching?

Cheers
Jo

[BruceG]

HI Rod, I'm afraid no can do with BYEOS such a shame as people rave about it. I have a 300D which is not compliant. I have recently bought the canon right angle magnified finder which is great, but the mistake I made last time was to try to focus on stars in the target area for my imaging. There's nothing bright enough for me in the carina nebula.
Next time I will focus on a bright star first, lock the focuser and then go to the target area. we live and learn.
Bruce.

[Dealy]

"Nice one Kev, You've got a lot of data hiding in there, did you do any stretching?

Cheers
Jo"


Hi Jo,

No I'm just learning how to process as well as trying to handle Gimp. To be honest I don't really know what stretching is.

You've already given me a link to some photoshop tutorials which I haven't worked through yet. Trying to use that info for Gimp is one of the problems I'm facing. The icons, menu items etc look different so I'm not sure if I'm doing it right.

Lots more practice required I'm afraid.

Kev

[slippo74]

Hey Kev,

Nice shoot indeed...
You can even play around with filters and remove some noise.
Here an example from your original photo, filtered a bit too much actually but it gives you an idea :)

156462

[Dealy]

G'day Cristiano

Filters?? ummm........ok

I've no idea how to do that.

I'll investigate and see what Gimp has to offer.

Cheers, Kev

[nebulosity.]

What program are you using for stacking? Whatever it is it should allow you to stretch the stacked image, If your unsure about stretching ect, try and find out about it as you've got great data, all you need now is to know how to bring it out.
Don't worrying if it's all quite confusing, just have fun :thumbsup: You obviously have a good eye for processing so I look forward to seeing what you'll soon be producing.

Cheers
Jo