M42 & NGC 1977 (yawn)

[rogerg (Roger)]

Hello all,

It kills me to be posting a picture of such a photographed object, but what can I say, I don't have "the perfect shot" of it yet, so I must keep trying every couple of years, right?? Last time I shot it was in 2007 I think.

Back in 2007 when I last shot the combo I was using my Megrez 80. It's interesting to compare it with this one, and see the horrific CA in the Megrez 80 shot (which I knew even then). Here's the old one

Until last night I hadn't turned on the Losmandy since about June, so it was nice to see it running without a hitch last night. With the AstroTrac being my primary field mount the Losmandy has got little use. The hassles of getting it running nice in the field have put me off the Losmandy. It's a different story when it's simply sitting in the observatory of course. A slight tweak of the focuser and all was good. Polar alignment must be out a bit as indicated by pointing being off, but tracking was quite good considering the 30km/hr winds which were whipping through the back yard. While the image as sharp the extremely turbulent atmosphere and strong wind has made for a soft image.

Combnation of exposures to retain the core.

I have gone easy on the sharpenning and brightness. I don't want to bring out noise too much and hate over-doing the sharpenning. But I have perhaps gone a little too light on these. Interesting to hear feedback. Similarly I'm reasonably happy with the colour balance, keeping in mind it's not a modified DSLR, but open to comments there also.

Larger 1500px wide version at my website:
http://www.rogergroom.com/items/m42_..._ngc1977_orion

Enjoy, and hopefully I'll have something more intereting to post in the next week as I have until the 10th off primarily for astronomy

Roger.

[mswhin63 (Malcolm)]

I really like this shot, looks more natural without the over-processing. Also the colours look really good too, definitely better than 2007 shot.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Great improvement from the previous shot. Nicely done.

[rogerg (Roger)]

thanks guy's glad you liked it

[h0ughy (David)]

just starting to define the dust - i like the shot - never get enough of this area

[Hagar (Doug)]

Very nice Roger. Huge improvement on the first. Keep it going now.

[TrevorW]

Good one Roger

[SkyViking (Rolf)]

That's a beauty. I like the smoothness with virtually no noise and you have managed to highlight the intensity of the core area without burning it out.
The nebula looks great this way, just hanging there emerging from the pitch black sorroundings.

[rogerg (Roger)]

Originally Posted by h0ughy

just starting to define the dust - i like the shot - never get enough of this area

Thanks bought would be good to eventually capture more of that dust and extended detail.

Originally Posted by Hagar

Very nice Roger. Huge improvement on the first. Keep it going now.

Thanks

Originally Posted by TrevorW

Good one Roger

thanks

Originally Posted by SkyViking

That's a beauty. I like the smoothness with virtually no noise and you have managed to highlight the intensity of the core area without burning it out.
The nebula looks great this way, just hanging there emerging from the pitch black sorroundings.

Thanks it is that smoothness and lack of noise in it which I am growing to like. I am really happy with the low noise considering it was a warmish 25 degree night.