Final Image for 2020, M42 Orion Nebula

[Startrek]

After weeks and weeks of cloudy nights , late last night in Sydney was reasonably clear with some passing light cloud
Managed only 15 x 180 sec decent subs on M42 Orion as the wind was swirling around a bit a causing my guiding to sway
6” f6 Bintel GSO newt
EQ6-R mount
ZWOASI2600MC OSC camera set at HDR ( Gain 0 offset 50 ) cooling set at -12C
EQMOD and Stellarium for Goto and navigation
Captured with APT
PHD2 guiding at 1.20 arc sec error total
Stacked in DSS
Processed in Startools V1.6 OSC Linear data set
Used the Compose module in Startools to create some synthetic colour blends

Original and crop versions of Synthetic Luminance , Synthetic LRGB , Synthetic Composite Green Blue

Comments Welcome !!

Merry Xmas and hopefully a better 2021 for all !!
Cheers

[PKay]

Another great capture Martin.

Your processing skills are certainly well honed.

On that night I watched the clouds break, quickly set up, and then it rained...

[Fernando]

Great images; loved the "black and white" ones!!!

[Startrek]

Thanks Peter and Fernando
Due to our cool wet summer ahead on the east coast , clear nights are going to be limited so you have to be prepared to wait and do some late ones
This capture was between 12.30 am and 3.00am ( in between the high cloud bands and wind ) only snagged a total of 45mins
Thanks again
Merry Christmas !

[Zuts]

Nice image. The stars look good for 6" guiding and it's nice to see the trapezium :thumbsup:

[Startrek]

Paul
Thanks for your comments
The most positive observation about imaging M42 ( on 2 occasions ) with the new ZWOASI2600MC camera is not having to take short and long exposures and processing in a layering module to avoid the core being blown out
This image and the one 2 weeks ago were 180 sec subs straight of the camera , stacked and processed normally without any attention to the core ( just a bit of sharpening)
When my subs were reviewed for quality in Astap , I couldn’t believe it , seeing the trapezium stand out so vividly like 4 little torches
My Canon 600D DSLR when imaging M42 over the past 3 or so years would always blow the core out only after 30 or 40 sec subs
This new camera has so many hidden secrets in performance, I can’t wait to get out there each time and image
It’s truly a well designed and quality engineered camera with a fantastic Sony sensor and TEC cooler
I’m so glad I invested the dollars into this camera
Thanks again !!!
Cheers
Martin

[pkinchington]

Very nice! I like the details very much :)
Cheers Kanga

[Startrek]

Thanks Kanga,

Just needed more data when using a Duoband filter , 2 hrs would have been ideal but still happy with the outcome and even more happy the trap was exposed straight off the camera with 3 minute subs

As far as imaging goes for the immediate future , I’ve packed both my rigs away until the weather improves , long range forecast is not good on the east coast. Forecasters are saying we are expected to have this type of weather until the Spring
Oh well that’s Mother Nature , you take the good with the bad , last year the country was on fire , this year we are getting soaked
Cheers
Martin

[Robert_T]

hi martin, looks great and especially the high dynamic range. I have virtually the same camera now (QHY268c) and am starting to explore Star Tools so may need to pick your brains in future if that's ok :-)

[Startrek]

Robert ,
Happy to help with Startools
Startools works well with Deep Sky Stacker , in fact it has a set of procedures and parameters you should adhere too when using DSS to ensure you have clean untouched data when loading your stacked file into Startools
Cheers
Martin