M42

[britgc]

Hey guys.

Finally got a chance last night to have a go at M42. Wasn't sure how it would go given that my location means Orion passes right through the light pollution from the city. Turned out pretty well in the end though I think.
I spent the entire night out under the stars so I learned a heap about my telescope and mount.
Mainly I learned that I want an autoguider lol. But had a good chance to get familiar with polar alignment, framing orientation and meridian flip etc.
Had a great night :)
Also had a go at the horsehead nebula but the sun came up so will continue that another time.

Didn't spend much time processing this outside of DSS, adjusted levels and saturation a bit in CS2 and then cropped it (I'm still lost with PS haha).
As always, any suggestions would very welcome :thumbsup:

274 x 30 sec @ISO1600

Cheers,
Bret

[LightningNZ]

Looks really nice Bret. Very pretty.

I'm surprised given the shear number of subs that you couldn't pull a bit more faint stuff out of this. Perhaps that's the result of light pollution. Either way, don't be afraid to leave the background a little greyish, rather than black.

You might like to try mixing some longer subs with the shorter ones next time - if you're able to do a good polar alignment. Maybe some 10 second images too to keep the Trapezium region from looking washed out.

[britgc]

Thanks Cam.

Yeh I was hoping I could get a bit more out of it too, but I really struggled to. I've uploaded an example of what most of my subs look like. Maybe I shouldn't have included them in stacking. Anything over 30 seconds pretty much just resulted in a yellow/white image, hence I did so many 30 second subs in hope. I got some darker ones but the sun comes up shortly afterwards at the moment.
I'll wait until Orion is West of the Meridian for most of the night time so I can avoid the city lights.
I like the idea of the shorter subs regarding the trapezium. Thanks!
I'll have another crack at processing and leave the background a bit more greyish as you suggested and see what I can get. I might try restacking just the darker subs and see what happens as well.

Thanks again.
Bret

[rustigsmed]

great start Bret,

yes there looks to be plenty more in there, its a tad black clipped. what photo editing program are you using?

Cheers,

Rusty

[britgc]

Thanks Rusty.
I try to get as much as I can out of DSS then just do small last minute adjustments in Photoshop CS2, which would be where I'm clipping it :) I have a tendency to want to make the background black :shrug:

Cheers,
Bret

[SimmoW]

Good one, plenty of detail in there. Yes combining with some shorter subs will improve the central area.

[PeterEde]

nice image
I have the same problem with LP. Orion rises over Adelaide.
I've been doing an auto white balance in CS5 before sending images to DSS

[britgc]

Thanks Peter.
Ah cool, I'll have to give that a go too. Looks like I have plenty to figure out over the weekend if the clouds hang around. Do you venture out to dark sites much? I'm hoping to leave the backyard soon once I'm more efficient at polar alignment etc.

[cometcatcher]

Nice one Bret. A nebula filter would help with the light pollution.

In deeper shots the background of M42 isn't black, it's filled with a rusty colour nebula. Something to aim for.

[PeterEde]

Do you have a polar scope on that HEQ5? I put one on my EQ3 and went from 30 sec to 2 minutes
I'm yet to leave my backyard too.
Been thinking heading down the harbor area. To get M31. M42 will take a trip further north

[britgc]

Thanks Kevin. I'll add that filter to my ever growing list of accessories to purchase;)



It does have a polar scope but the last couple of times I've just been using the camera through my telescope to take a few 30 sec to 1 minute exposures of the pole depending on how dark it is and then adjusting as needed. I found that to be a bit easier. Also want to try DARV. Didn't do longer than 30 seconds this time due to LP.
M31 would be great to image. I haven't looked in to Northern dark sites seeing as I live South of the city but I'll have check that out, especially for things like M31.

[PeterEde]

I found looking through the polar scope and taking photos through to be very different. Best I managed before using the polar scope was about 45 sec

[LightningNZ]

+1

[britgc]

Oops. I meant taking photos through my telescope of the SCP and adjusting instead of using the polar scope.

[PeterEde]

Yeah I did that too. Long exp to find center :)
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2944/15318345986_4dbd526d8f_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/pkCwzy)
Celestial South Pole Star Trails (https://flic.kr/p/pkCwzy) by Peter Ede (https://www.flickr.com/people/74281873@N00/), on Flickr

[britgc]

Very nice. Great gallery too mate. Love the sunspots.

[britgc]

Ok, so I went back and had another go at processing.

Fist image is an attempt at reprocessing my original processed image in PS CS2.

Second image I started from scratch with the stacked image in DSS. I think I did a better job of aligning histogram and curves etc. this time round. Then went to CS2 to bring things out a bit more.

Let me know what you think.

[cometcatcher]

Some aspects of the new image are better, we can see the background better. But in the process the nice blues of running man and M42 have been lost.

[LightningNZ]

Nah, I think the colour balance is much more correct in the 2nd image. The first was very blue-heavy. The 2nd attempt is very nicely processed in my opinion. Well done Brit in taking our rather terse comments and learning so quickly from them. :thumbsup:

[Rex]

Brilliant Brett, the reprocess is showing some really nice detail. I agree with Kevin, perhaps adjust the blue up very slightly or maybe a better result would come from adjusting the red down. Trial and error is the key. Great job and well done mate.

[britgc]

Thanks guys. I'm still tinkering with it as I write this. Giving Nebulosity a go to see how it compares to DSS.
Thanks for all the suggestions and a big thank you to Rusty for taking a closer look at my stacked image.
Will let you know how it goes :)

[britgc]

Hey guys,

Been tinkering with some of the intricacies of image processing in an attempt to understand things a bit more beyond "when I push this button, a combination of maths & witchcraft happens" and reprocessed M42 while I was at it.

I used Startools this time around with some final tweaks in CS2 and I think it's an improvement over my last effort. Just about pulled as much as I can out of it for the time being at least.

Planning on getting a Baader UHC filter soon-ish which should help things a bit, save me trying to "fix it in the mix".

Until next time folks - clear skies to you all!

[cometcatcher]

Wow, you've really pulled some detail out of it that time, including the faint background dust. Well done. :thumbsup:

[britgc]

Thanks Kevin.

[rustigsmed]

that is excellent Bret, you couldn't get any more out of that, well done :thumbsup:

Rusty

[Rex]

Nice Repro Bret,your doing well!

[britgc]

Thanks guys :)