M42 - a hoary chestnut

[kosborn]

This was a difficult one. Big and bright and easy to capture but so difficult to process with such a wide dynamic range. I'm sure most have captured this many times, and at this time of year there are so many examples but I'm new to this so please humour me. :P This was multiple R, G and B exposures of 15s, 60s and 120s together with Ha at 30s, 120s and 300s for a total of about 5 hours. I had a bunch of lum frames at multiple exposures but when I added lum to rgb it just blew out the core more so I discarded them. I think the data is good so I will probably reprocess some time in the future. In the meantime if anyone has processing suggestions (PixInsight) I'd be delighted to listen. A big version is at https://www.astrobin.com/full/379052/C/?nc=user

Kevin

[multiweb]

That is excellent data and very nice processing. Top shelf! :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[kosborn]

Thanks Marc, it seems a bit soft but when I tried a wavelet based HDR transform it looked a bit too edgy. I'm thinking it will be worth reprocessing in a couple of months.


Kevin

[LewisM]

Could have been the pre-frontal thin cloud we got lost night that softened it out. My subsequent NGC2014 shots I threw out as they were all soft (first hour was fine).

Tis indeed a nice M42

[kosborn]

Thanks Lewis, the data was from the previous night and it seemed pretty clear so I can't blame cloud. I might try some gentle image sharpening... :question:

[RickS]

Another nice one, Kevin!

[kosborn]

Thanks again. :)

[Nikolas]

Very pretty
You can iron out the core a bit using layer masks in photoshop but you need to have one underexposed, it can be done

[gregbradley]

Wow those stars are tiny pinpoints. It creates a nice look overall.

Greg.

[kosborn]

Thanks Nik. I don't have PS. I tried HDR composition in PixInsight but wasn't happy. I'll go back and try again sometime.





Thanks Greg. I added a Starizona Microtouch Autofocuser to the Esprit a little while ago. It was a great investment and really helps nail focus all night (I didn't refocus as often as I should have when I had to do it by hand).

[gregbradley]

Yes refocusing is an issue with refractors and lensed scopes. Its a luxury with my carbon fibre CDK - you focus it once and as long as the temperature difference between the mirror and the air is not too great (1C or less) then its correct focus all night.

Refractors - that's another thing.

Greg.