Flame & Horsehead Nebula on a rainy day...

[Cimitar]

Ok, so with all the rain lately I thought I'd go back and reprocess one of my favourite objects, the Horsehead Nebula. This picture was taken on 16 January 2015 and is very heavily processed (to the extreme! :P), however it's not too shabby given that it's only using 4x 3min subs at ISO 1600 on a 200mm Canon lens ;) . I was piggybacking on my LX200 at the time.

Orion disappeared during winter before I could have a proper go at it. But it's at the top of my to do list once it rises again, at a reasonable hour of course, and when it's not freezing outside!

Quite a few dodgy artefacts :rofl:, however it looks pretty good when it's in TIF format.

Details:
Flame & Horsehead Nebula
Canon 600D with 200mm lens ISO 1600
Piggybacked on an 8inch LX200
4 x 180 sec exposures (un-guided)
Super-dooper heavy processing in Nebulosity & Photoshop.

Cheers
Evan

[BruceG]

Given the very short integration time, you have a recognizable horse head and flame. Loss of many details in both nebulae due to the massive processing you must have used. This is much easier to produce with a modified DSLR (filter removal) which brings the Ha (red) portions up much faster than an unmodified one. I would say have another go in summer and try for at least an hours worth of subs.
Cheers,
Bruce.

[Cimitar]

Thanks Bruce :thumbsup: - I'm glad you mentioned approx. an hour worth of subs as that's what I was aiming for at a minimum. I've heard that the horsehead can typically require 10min subs to draw out the faint light. I've got my autoguider now so keen to try again in summer.

[BruceG]

Well at Gunnedah I assume you have reasonably dark skies so really accurate polar alignment and a decent wedge once again accurately aligned, 10 minute subs may be achievable, but it aint easy. I suggest experimenting what length of subs you get with round stars - I think that will be your limiting factor. In essence, 2 or 3 minute subs are fine as long as you take heaps of them and stack them. Good luck!