First image in nearly 3 months

[Startrek]

The weather gods were kind last night in Sydney to allow a clear sky for most of the night after nearly 3 months of clouds
Haven’t imaged M42 for about 18 months so captured a couple of hours on this popular summer target
It was great just get out and image something


80% waxing moon across the sky until early hours
Seeing conditions poor at first but improved towards midnight
6” f6 GSO newt
EQ6-R pro mount
ZWOASI2600MC set in Ascom to Gain 0 HDR , cooled to -10C
Optolong L Extreme filter
42 x 3 minute dithered guided subs
30 x Flats
40 x Bias
Goto and Nav EQMOD and Ascom Stellarium
Captured in APT
PHD2 guiding at 0.65 to 0.75 ( a few random excursions in Ra waisted about 6 subs )
Subs reviewed in Astap
Stacked in DSS
Processed in Startools V1.7 OSC linear data set ( Bi colour narrowband composite )

Synthetic Luminance version
Bi colour NB version
Crop of M43 and Trap area ( didn’t expose the trap with layering , maybe next time )

Comments welcome
Thanks

[Bart]

Looks nice and sharp. First one for the season, well done.

[Startrek]

Thanks Bart
It was great imaging again
More data would have been nice
Friday night is forecast to be clear in Sydney
To good to be true ( 2 clear nights in a week )
Cheers
Martin

[Stephane]

Wooow!! Martin, you don’t mess around after such a long weather break! Sharp, lots of faint nebulosity, nice colours. Hopefully you get some more clear nights.

Clear skies,
Stéphane

[strongmanmike]

Yeah, nice one Martin, enjoyed the view 👍

Mike

[Startrek]

Thanks Stephane

Clear tonight in Sydney !!

[Startrek]

Thanks Mike