M42/1977 and Jupiter with its moons

[chances]

Hey all, had my gear setup last night to try and take a picture of some comets - didnt happen
Hopefully when I get my GOTO upgrade soon it will make things much easier.

I kinda knew the comets were a long shot so I had my first try at imaging Jupiter and my 2nd serious attempt at Orion.
Very happy with the results, did heaps of tricky stuff using Deep Sky Stacker, Nebulosity, Fits Liberator and Photoshop ... omg what a process! ... but its all coming together
BackyardEOS was used to capture Jupiter on 5x live view with a 2x Barlow. Processed in Registax and then Photoshop.

I think my next purchase will be a ASI120MC and perhaps a 5x televue... arg!! so many things still to buy!

I've added a copy of my RAW stacked RGB files which I import into Photoshop for final processing if anyone is interested / bored

Orion_RGB.zip

Cheers!
Max

[carlstronomy (Carl)]

Max,
That's a really nice M42 keep up the great images, I am sure you will have many more to come. That's also a good Jupiter for the position in the sky prior to sun rise. A barlow would be a very good investment for some nice images of Jupiter, not sure if a 5x would be the best for your setup someone with more experience may be able to give advice on that.

Carl

[chances]

Originally Posted by carlstronomy

Max,
That's a really nice M42 keep up the great images, I am sure you will have many more to come. That's also a good Jupiter for the position in the sky prior to sun rise. A barlow would be a very good investment for some nice images of Jupiter, not sure if a 5x would be the best for your setup someone with more experience may be able to give advice on that.

Carl

Thanks Carl!
Cant wait to see what pops out when I can have exposures longer than 20 seconds

Only reason I want the 5x is because of the example photos up in the gallery of the ASI120 website. One guy is using a 10" dob with 5x (and they look unreal!).
I think i'm expecting a little too much but if I could eventually get pictures like that id be pretty stoaked

[LightningNZ (Cam)]

Wow, great start to the imaging. Your M42 is very sharp. Nicely processed too - just needs more data really to pop.

Cheers,
Cam

[carlstronomy (Carl)]

Originally Posted by chances

Thanks Carl!
Cant wait to see what pops out when I can have exposures longer than 20 seconds

Only reason I want the 5x is because of the example photos up in the gallery of the ASI120 website. One guy is using a 10" dob with 5x (and they look unreal!).
I think i'm expecting a little too much but if I could eventually get pictures like that id be pretty stoaked

Hey just had a look at those images, must say they are some of the best images of Jupiter I have ever seen by any scope and camera combo! Have not heard much about the ASI120 but for a 1/3" CMOS they look a little too go good to be true (but I maybe wrong with new technology arriving all the time). If anyone who reads this has the same results as they have on their site I would love to see them because for $298 dollars I will go out and get one.

[chances]

Originally Posted by carlstronomy

Hey just had a look at those images, must say they are some of the best images of Jupiter I have ever seen by any scope and camera combo! Have not heard much about the ASI120 but for a 1/3" CMOS they look a little too go good to be true (but I maybe wrong with new technology arriving all the time). If anyone who reads this has the same results as they have on their site I would love to see them because for $298 dollars I will go out and get one.

So I ordered one yesterday haha, hopeless I know - Really wanted the B&W camera but the filter wheel and filters are too much for me right this moment. Your very welcome to have a muck around with it when it comes
Wont get posted till the 8th apparently so hopefully by next weekend it will be strapped into my barlow

Originally Posted by LightningNZ

Wow, great start to the imaging. Your M42 is very sharp. Nicely processed too - just needs more data really to pop.

Cheers,
Cam

Thanks Cam!
Yeah I notice there's alot of nebulosity missing from my picture, fingers crossed my stand upgrade will arrive today.

[kosh]

Hey nice images chances

Is your 450D modded? Also, I read from your post that you didn't have a tracking mount at the time, any problems with star trails?

I am interested because I have been using a 450D on a tripod for wide field stuff, I just picked up a skywatcher ed80 and look forward to the clouds clearing so I can actually use it.

[chances]

Originally Posted by kosh

Hey nice images chances

Is your 450D modded? Also, I read from your post that you didn't have a tracking mount at the time, any problems with star trails?

I am interested because I have been using a 450D on a tripod for wide field stuff, I just picked up a skywatcher ed80 and look forward to the clouds clearing so I can actually use it.

Thanks Kosh,
My 450D is unmodified, this Orion picture was built up using 22 photos @ 15 seconds / ISO1600.

The EQ6 is motorized, but not tracking as in guided tracking (yet).
I'm limited to about 25 - 30 second exposures, out of those 85% would be no good to use.

-Max

[kosh]

Thanks for the info Max. Looks good.