M8 - Sample image in Ha

[PKay]

Trying to work out optimum exposure length, camera gain, framing etc, processed only 6 X 300s subs.

I was quite amazed at the result!

The goal is to produce a SHO image comprised of 30 X 300s each filter.

Comments welcome, I am still learning :)

[AdamJL]

Hi Peter

300s is a good point for this nebula, depending on where you're shooting from. This is nice work! Your stars are a little unfocused, but you're off to a cracking start :)
Looking forward to seeing what you get out of this one.

[Startrek]

Peter,
Yes a great start but if you were out last night after the rain cleared, seeing and transparency were terrible as humidity was up around 85 to 90% and looking up stars looked like they had halos around them. I didn’t bother imaging as focusing would have been frustrating
Good start anyway
Core looks good and well detailed but outer region looks a bit dark which is hiding a lot of detail and nebulosity
I use 180sec subs for nebula and lots of them with my 2600MC and L Extreme, a sweet spot , I’ve never had to go to 300sec to expose detail
Look forward to your end result
Cheers
M

[Wilsil]

Hi Peter, nice image.
I am using the 300s for my imaging as well.
The QHY268M works really well with that exposure.
I must say that I haven't tried any longer.

[PKay]

Thanks Adam, the focus may have been excessive moisture, I use an EAF.


Thanks M, yes it was so wet I had to pull out the hair dryer (which lives in the observatory).
Might give 180s a go and see what difference it makes.


Thanks Wilco, there is so much written about exposure time, I have found the 'suck it an see' principle works the best :)

[multiweb]

Missed that one. Those round stars are to die for. It is a little grainy and I'm not sure if it's noise or if that happened during the processing. Contrast seems a bit pushed so hard to tell but you definitely have the image scale and stars for much deeper details. Maybe worth a repro I reckon to see more. :thumbsup: