Back to the eastern skies last night, where the guiding is good.... for me anyway...
Orion was sitting in a sucker-hole, so I very slowly, with no sudden moves, slewed the scope towards it, expecting it to close immediately! It stayed open for the next hour or more, so I grabbed some red photons!
Imaged with the DSI Pro II and Skywatcher 100mm f/5 scope, with 13nm Astronomik H-alpha filter, 10x2minute exposures and 10x15s exposures, guided with PHD and DMK/ED80. Outback cooler running a CCD temp at 21deg C (no more fog!).
A 5 minute exposure showed more detail, especially in the M42-M43 crossover region - I think combining 30s and 5 minute or longer would do a better job.... but that thing called work gets in the way......
Hooked on the Ha drug.
A comment through. Did you do any layering with this image? Looks a little strange how the core is bright and detailed, then a pronounced drop off in nebulosity before the fainter wisps further out. The transition doesn't appear smooth between bright and dim areas as one would expect. Still a pleasing image.
Layered - 15 sec for core, then differently stretched versions of the 2 minute for the rest.... Thanks for the advice Jase - will have a re-work tonight.
Thanks everyone! Imaging under the moon, albeit more slowly than RGB is definitely a HUGE plus.... I also like the increased contrast you get - look out for O-III after xmas!
This was shot between 9 and 10 last night - Orion was 35 degrees from the moon and at 20 degrees altitude in Newcastles light pollution.... I'm not sure how close you can get to a big moon though - the moon is reflecting some Ha from the sun. It certainly cuts out light pollution though.
