A Quick M42 under Moonlit Sydney Skies

[Startrek (Martin)]

Last night shaped up to be one of the best nights for imaging in the past 6 months or so with fairly good seeing conditions ( I could actually see quite a few stars for a change under Bortle 7/8 Sydney skies) and not much dew around either. Unfortunately a big old 90% waxing Moon overhead meant choosing a an emission nebula using narrowband.
I missed M42 last year so sneaked in a few hours this morning between 12.30am and 3.30am whilst skies were clear and relatively stable.
Really enjoyed this quick session

6” f6 Bintel GSO Newt
EQ6-R pro mount
ZWO2600MC cooled to -10C , Gain 101
TS GPU coma corrector
Antlia ALPT 5nm OSC Dualband filter
55 x 3min dithered guided subs
40 x Flats
60 x Bias
PHD2 Multistar guiding ( tight guiding 0.48 to 0.55 arc sec total )
EQMOD, Stellarium, APT
Stacked in DSS
Processed in Startools V1.8 OSC linear data set Compose Bi Colour

Synthetic Luminance version
Bi colour SHO versions
Bi colour HOO version

I’ll most probably add more data to this image over the coming months when time permits

Comments welcome
Thanks

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Very nice grab, looks sharp as a tack

Mike

[oska (John)]

Always excellent Martin! thanks for sharing.

[Retrograde (Pete)]

M42 the crowd-pleaser. Nice & sharp.

[Startrek (Martin)]

Thanks Mike , John and Pete,
Yes a very popular bright target for both observing and imaging
I decided to go “light” on processing to leave the nebulosity a bit wispy , just a light sharpening and SV Decon to expose fine detail and tighten Stars.
Extremely happy with the Antlia ALPT OSC Dualband filter as the moon was almost full and gradients were minimal.I only had to use a light narrowband wipe to remove LP and Moon gradients

Cheers
Martin

[Addos (Adam)]

Trapezium looks good Martin, nice one!

[Startrek (Martin)]

Originally Posted by Addos

Trapezium looks good Martin, nice one!

Thanks Adam

[Dave882 (David)]

Lovely image mate well done. Very well controlled and nice detail. Yes it was very good conditions (bar the giant sky-light!!) I was doing some planetary viewing and it was exceptionally stable even at very high mags although it did start to degrade a bit after midnight imo.

Great to see some more new data coming tho isn’t it!!!

[Startrek (Martin)]

Originally Posted by Dave882

Lovely image mate well done. Very well controlled and nice detail. Yes it was very good conditions (bar the giant sky-light!!) I was doing some planetary viewing and it was exceptionally stable even at very high mags although it did start to degrade a bit after midnight imo.

Great to see some more new data coming tho isn’t it!!!

Thanks Dave,
Yeh I missed M42 last year for one reason or another, nice to get started with some new data on it.
Exposed the trap a little bit without any short subs and layering, just used an AutoDev stretch with ROI in ST and HDR with Tame function. A bit more time on it would have exposed it more.
Certainly a great night, really stable and stars above 35deg were pin points no scintillating (even with the moon nearly full , I could see more stars than normal under Sydney’s crappy LP
A short but very satisfying session

Cheers
Martin

[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

Not too shabby there Martin! Nice detail in the trap! Well done!

[Startrek (Martin)]

Originally Posted by marc4darkskies

Not too shabby there Martin! Nice detail in the trap! Well done!

Thanks Marcus
Yep a good start
Happy with the level of detail, tight Star field and low noise floor especially under Full Moon and Bortle 7/8 skies
Cheers
Martin