rogerg
29-12-2010, 02:58 PM
Hello all,
It kills me to be posting a picture of such a photographed object, but what can I say, I don't have "the perfect shot" of it yet, so I must keep trying every couple of years, right?? :) Last time I shot it was in 2007 I think.
Back in 2007 when I last shot the combo I was using my Megrez 80. It's interesting to compare it with this one, and see the horrific CA in the Megrez 80 shot (which I knew even then). Here's the old one (http://www.rogergroom.com/items/M42andRunningMan_574)
Until last night I hadn't turned on the Losmandy since about June, so it was nice to see it running without a hitch last night. With the AstroTrac being my primary field mount the Losmandy has got little use. The hassles of getting it running nice in the field have put me off the Losmandy. It's a different story when it's simply sitting in the observatory of course. A slight tweak of the focuser and all was good. Polar alignment must be out a bit as indicated by pointing being off, but tracking was quite good considering the 30km/hr winds which were whipping through the back yard. While the image as sharp the extremely turbulent atmosphere and strong wind has made for a soft image.
Combnation of exposures to retain the core.
I have gone easy on the sharpenning and brightness. I don't want to bring out noise too much and hate over-doing the sharpenning. But I have perhaps gone a little too light on these. Interesting to hear feedback. Similarly I'm reasonably happy with the colour balance, keeping in mind it's not a modified DSLR, but open to comments there also.
Larger 1500px wide version at my website:
http://www.rogergroom.com/items/m42_ngc1976_ngc1977_orion
Enjoy, and hopefully I'll have something more intereting to post in the next week as I have until the 10th off primarily for astronomy :D :D :D
Roger.
It kills me to be posting a picture of such a photographed object, but what can I say, I don't have "the perfect shot" of it yet, so I must keep trying every couple of years, right?? :) Last time I shot it was in 2007 I think.
Back in 2007 when I last shot the combo I was using my Megrez 80. It's interesting to compare it with this one, and see the horrific CA in the Megrez 80 shot (which I knew even then). Here's the old one (http://www.rogergroom.com/items/M42andRunningMan_574)
Until last night I hadn't turned on the Losmandy since about June, so it was nice to see it running without a hitch last night. With the AstroTrac being my primary field mount the Losmandy has got little use. The hassles of getting it running nice in the field have put me off the Losmandy. It's a different story when it's simply sitting in the observatory of course. A slight tweak of the focuser and all was good. Polar alignment must be out a bit as indicated by pointing being off, but tracking was quite good considering the 30km/hr winds which were whipping through the back yard. While the image as sharp the extremely turbulent atmosphere and strong wind has made for a soft image.
Combnation of exposures to retain the core.
I have gone easy on the sharpenning and brightness. I don't want to bring out noise too much and hate over-doing the sharpenning. But I have perhaps gone a little too light on these. Interesting to hear feedback. Similarly I'm reasonably happy with the colour balance, keeping in mind it's not a modified DSLR, but open to comments there also.
Larger 1500px wide version at my website:
http://www.rogergroom.com/items/m42_ngc1976_ngc1977_orion
Enjoy, and hopefully I'll have something more intereting to post in the next week as I have until the 10th off primarily for astronomy :D :D :D
Roger.