Another paltry M42

[Octane]

Hi all,

I don't know whether to be happy that this one semi-turned-out, or to be upset that I put so much work into it and this is what I end up with! Astrophotography is difficult. I really appreciate the efforts of the masters here!

I took 100 pictures in total, 20 from each ISO setting. Each exposure was 15 seconds in duration with a five second gap til the next shot (thank you DSLR Focus). You can imagine, after 20 seconds x 100 pictures, I ended up with quite a lot of field rotation (I don't have an equatorial wedge).

I am a glutton for punishment. I decided to leave IRIS and Registax. This image is a sum total of about 40 images (ranging from ISO-100 through to ISO-1600), which were de-rotated individually in Photoshop, layer by layer! I think you'll agree that I did a pretty good job when it came to alignment. It was actually enjoyable. *shudder*

I de-rotated each ISO one-by-one, and Screen'ed them altogether. The resulting ISO image was later Screen'ed with the other ISO images.

To allow the central blue and Trapezium to show through (ISO-100), I used gradiented circles (black-to-white) as layer masks. Similarly, I used gradiented circles for the other ISO layers.

I made a huge mistake in shooting in the smallest size on my camera and not RAW, either. You can tell by all the disgusting noise. Oh well, I'm only experimenting.

This is definitely not the way to go when you're working with so many images. I will teach myself IRIS and try again.

Thanks for reading and viewing.

Regards,
Humayun

[RB]

You've done a great job H.
Your too hard on yourself, the trap area is good, not too burnt out.
With the dedication you have you'll be turning out some stunners soon.

Well done.

[davidpretorius]

hey, this is really good.

You are right, it aint easy, but i am very impressed with what you have produced.

Have you heard of neat image. I hope you do not mind, i have run your image thru neat image (freeware) with all default settings and it helps remove noise.

I concur with rockety sockety, with your dedication, you will be producing some top quality work. I will be happy to tag along and watch your image output get better and better!!

Well done!

[atalas]

Hi Humayun,nice effort dude ! to really deal with the noise mate you need longer exposures . Try at least 30 second subs but If you mount and polar alignment is up to It 60 second subs would come out great ! and align and paste your 15 second sub in for the Trap . It's a long road to creating a great image Humayan and the mistakes we make
and the advice we get from the experianced Astrophotographers make our journey interesting and enjoyable .

[davidpretorius]

spot on louie!

[JohnH]

That is a great image, be happy, well done indeed!

It is my experiance that it takes a few runs at a target to learn how to get a result - this is good especially given you used low res jpegs and short exposures. I like the NeatImaged version too, it is worth getting to know this s'ware. Though this target is bright it is actally hard to image as no single exposure can be right acroos the whole extent of it - you need shorter exposures for the core and longer for the outer reaches - then a mask to add your layers for a pleasing result, check this out:

http://www.astropix.com/HTML/J_DIGIT/COMP2.HTM

:drink:

[Astroman]

NICE hummy, well done.

[Octane]

Thank you everyone for your kind words, advice and encouragement. It helps!

I've posted a second attempt at reprocessing.

Regards,
Humayun