M42 and friends

[RyanJones]

Hi All,

I know this one has been done to death so I appologise in advance. I haven’t had a decent crack at this for a couple of years so I thought I’d give it a go this season. I’m pretty happy with how it’s come out.

427 x 120 sec STC duo filter
200 x 120 sec L-Enhance filter
200mm f/4 Newtonian

Thanks for looking

Ryan

[multiweb]

Nice one Ryan. Good colors and details. :thumbsup:

[RyanJones]

Thank you Marc.

I felt like I’d taken quite a significant step in my imaging with this one. I know it’s probably considered a “ beginners “ target but I thought I’d have a go at doing it well. I’ve noticed quite a lack of feed back recently. Not just for myself but several others too. I’ve made the transition to deep space a few times and gone back to beginners because of lack of feedback but I do now genuinely feel I’m above beginner level. It would be good if some more advanced imagers could critique the images of those that are learning so we can develop our skills.

It’s not a whinge, just an observation.

Cheers

Ryan

[Startrek]

Ryan,
Nothing wrong with imaging and posting M42 , it’s a classic summer object with so much to offer. Your framing , resolution, details and colour are excellent !!!
Only one observation though ( and I’ve seen this appear in some of your previous images) your stars are not quite round. The star cores look sort of diamond shaped as with the halos around them. It’s obviously to do with the imaging train on that fast newt or coma corrector, spacing ????
Other than that it’s a ripper of an image
Well done !!
Martin

[RyanJones]

Hey Martin,

Thank you for your feedback. I honestly hadn’t noticed that diamond shape in this image until you made me go back and look but you’re 100% right. It isn’t in the train because it’s not in the subs or the stack. It’s something I’m doing in my processing. I’ll have to go back and have a look at it and see if I can work out where I’m doing it because you’re right I have created that problem in some of my other recent images.

Thanks again

Cheers
Ryan

[Startrek]

Ryan,
Stars with a slight diamond shape are usually caused by either a pinched primary mirror ( if it has 4 mounting clips not the usual 3 ) or possible astigmatism in the primary or secondary mirror
If you point to a Star and defocus on live view , is the Star a perfect round donut ??
Also Ive read some processing software like PI can cause stars to be slightly diamond shaped too in one of the tools ??
Cheers
Martin

[RyanJones]

100% sure it’s not a pinched mirror as the mirror cell I modified leaves my mirror practically floating. As I said before, it’s not in my subs so it’s definitely an artifact that I’m introducing in processing. I’m going to have to go though and work out where I’m doing it. I’ll try a repro over Christmas and I’ll really watch out for it.

Cheers

Ryan

[multiweb]

Speaking for myself everything astro has been a bit on the back burner lately so it's a little slow. I think it might be a weather induced coma for a lot of others as well. :lol: Things might start moving this fall and winter again.

[AdamJL]

I echo Martin's comment about not worrying about posting M42 images.
It's a fantastic nebula and well worth photographing and sharing.

I would also say it's not necessarily a beginners target. Beginner in the sense that it's bright and easy to frame but the dynamic range isn't always easy to master, which you've done a great job of here.

[RyanJones]

Cheers Adam. :thumbsup:

[Nikolas]

Looks good Ryan nice work!

[RyanJones]

Cheers Nik :thumbsup:

[Anth10]

Ryan,
I have seen your images in the past and have to say you have made great strides in your astro pic journey(it takes plenty of time and patience).
This neb never ceases to capture the attention of any space buff!

Well done!

Regards,
Anthony

[RyanJones]

That’s really nice if you to say thank you Anthony. It does take a long time and sometimes you feel you’re getting nowhere then suddenly you take a leap that keeps you hooked. It sure does give you an appreciation of the time and effort that other experienced astrophotographers have gone to to produce the fine work they do.

Cheers

Ryan

[jahnpahwa]

Not sure if it's processing or just good data, but I think the running man here is one of thr best defined that I've seen. And the colours over all are just great, not hyper saturated.
Good stuff mate!

[RyanJones]

Thank you JP. I’m going to give the credit to the data as I feel my processing still needs a lot of work. I took a crop of the running man and rotated it to show my brother why it was called that and I have to admit I quite liked it too. As far as saturation goes, I do tend to find I saturate a lot less than some others. Part of that is choice but also I find when I saturate more, my images become quite garish and not clean like others. Thank you for your kind words :)