Brace Yourselves, M42s are coming

[dylan_odonnell (Dylan)]

I really got into this hobby just over 18 months ago so I've been waiting in earnest for M42 to return so I could apply everything I've learned, much from IIS forums (thanks!).

The weather broke finally and I got just over 1 hours worth of 3 minute exposures with my hyperstar / c9.25 Edge HD rig and one shot colour CCD. Darks and Flats used, processing in PixInsight and Photoshop. Looking forward to adding more data and Ha to this target. Any tips for drawing out more of the dust greatly appreciated, that has been my goal since seeing some of the award winners from here.

d

[Placidus (Mike and Trish)]

That's actually rather fine!

[Carl]

Wow
If there all as good as that, it's going to be a great summer.
Excellent image Dylan.
Cheers Carl

[Atmos (Colin)]

This must be what you get for imaging at ~ F/2! Very nice

[Paul Haese]

This is a good start Dylan. For my Malin winning image of this object I did the following:

I use 810 minutes of Ha data and I blended that with the red channel at around 20% of Ha to red. I also blended the Ha data with the my luminance data to make a luminance detail layer. I masked that in around the areas which have lots of dust and are dark. I did not use it in the brighter areas. Then I did some contrasting to produce the 3D look and then sharpening to certain areas to draw the eye.

[Ryderscope (Rodney)]

Nice one Dylan. Welcome to the M42 club.

[dylan_odonnell (Dylan)]

Thanks all! Yes, working at f2 is nice, and almost essential with my limited imaging time.

Originally Posted by Paul Haese

This is a good start Dylan. For my Malin winning image of this object I did the following:

I use 810 minutes of Ha data and I blended that with the red channel at around 20% of Ha to red. I also blended the Ha data with the my luminance data to make a luminance detail layer. I masked that in around the areas which have lots of dust and are dark. I did not use it in the brighter areas. Then I did some contrasting to produce the 3D look and then sharpening to certain areas to draw the eye.

Excellent, thanks Paul! It's actually your image of M42 that I think of as the benchmark, it's really incredible and the dust detail is amazing. Thanks so much for sharing that info, I'll gather some Ha data and give that a try!

[multiweb (Marc)]

That's pretty cool. Very sharp.
I can relate to the anticipation. When I started I was too looking forward to shot that one. Still shoot it every occasion I've got.

[Andy01 (Andy)]

Nice work!

Good detail coming through in the dust, which more only data will reveal further. Paul has kindly given you the heads up on that so I won't elaborate on that aspect of your image.

The core and brighter stars are blown out so some shorter exposures taken and blended in will help create a more natural look. (Just be careful not to go too far as it will look very HDR otherwise.) Startools also has some nice features that help with masking.

The colours look a little undersaturated to me but that's highly subjective in what is an impressive image.

Might be worth opening an Astrobin account to post high res images as well

[andyc (Andy)]

Love the image, and the title! It really does show the benefit of f/2, so much detail in a relatively short exposure.

[dylan_odonnell (Dylan)]

Originally Posted by Andy01

Might be worth opening an Astrobin account to post high res images as well

Thanks guys! And thanks Andy, and Andy

The higher (but not full) res is here if you are interested : http://deography.com/wp-content/uplo...-Final2048.jpg

Reeally keen to get that extra Ha data to add to this one shot RGB stuff now.

d

[Rod771 (Rod)]

Nice one, Dylan! Looks like you've nailed the focus, that's not that easy with the hyperstar @ F2, well done!

[RickS (Rick)]

Looks good, Dylan. There's no substitute for lots of integration time if you're chasing the faint dust.

Cheers,
Rick.

[Shiraz (Ray)]

very impressive image - in 1 hour!

[FlashDrive (Poppy)]

Nice outcome....looking good

Col.