Flame & Horsehead Nebula on a rainy day...

[Cimitar (Evan)]

Ok, so with all the rain lately I thought I'd go back and reprocess one of my favourite objects, the Horsehead Nebula. This picture was taken on 16 January 2015 and is very heavily processed (to the extreme! ), however it's not too shabby given that it's only using 4x 3min subs at ISO 1600 on a 200mm Canon lens . I was piggybacking on my LX200 at the time.

Orion disappeared during winter before I could have a proper go at it. But it's at the top of my to do list once it rises again, at a reasonable hour of course, and when it's not freezing outside!

Quite a few dodgy artefacts , however it looks pretty good when it's in TIF format.

Details:
Flame & Horsehead Nebula
Canon 600D with 200mm lens ISO 1600
Piggybacked on an 8inch LX200
4 x 180 sec exposures (un-guided)
Super-dooper heavy processing in Nebulosity & Photoshop.

Cheers
Evan

[BruceG (Bruce)]

Given the very short integration time, you have a recognizable horse head and flame. Loss of many details in both nebulae due to the massive processing you must have used. This is much easier to produce with a modified DSLR (filter removal) which brings the Ha (red) portions up much faster than an unmodified one. I would say have another go in summer and try for at least an hours worth of subs.
Cheers,
Bruce.

[Cimitar (Evan)]

Originally Posted by BruceG

Given the very short integration time, you have a recognizable horse head and flame. Loss of many details in both nebulae due to the massive processing you must have used. This is much easier to produce with a modified DSLR (filter removal) which brings the Ha (red) portions up much faster than an unmodified one. I would say have another go in summer and try for at least an hours worth of subs.
Cheers,
Bruce.

Thanks Bruce - I'm glad you mentioned approx. an hour worth of subs as that's what I was aiming for at a minimum. I've heard that the horsehead can typically require 10min subs to draw out the faint light. I've got my autoguider now so keen to try again in summer.

[BruceG (Bruce)]

Well at Gunnedah I assume you have reasonably dark skies so really accurate polar alignment and a decent wedge once again accurately aligned, 10 minute subs may be achievable, but it aint easy. I suggest experimenting what length of subs you get with round stars - I think that will be your limiting factor. In essence, 2 or 3 minute subs are fine as long as you take heaps of them and stack them. Good luck!