M42 - 10 second exposures, Altair Astro 183C Hypercam (Tom Gray)

M42 - 10 second exposures, Altair Astro 183C Hypercam

Revision title: Au naturel - Orion uncovered.

With so much bad weather, I had almost missed a go at the Great Orion Nebula this year. Messing about with my new camera (AA183C), I decided to try some short, unguided 10s exposures on this bright object.

Data were collected in Nebulosity, no calibration was applied, and the resulting stack was processed in Startools 1.8. I can't believe the amount of detail with just 6m integration (original image). I still haven't got the backspacing quite right with my Meade 3.3 focal reducer so applied a little de-warping to the stars around the periphery.

I'm amazed at the sensitivity of the Sony IMX183 chip, and like the natural colour captured in RGB, using in built IR/UV filter.

Original
B
C
D
Final
F

B

Title: 10 second exposures, total 7.3 minutes

Description: 44 x 10s frames were captured in Astrophotography Tool using the native Altair driver, with Bin 1x1, gain 200, and offset 20. Processed in Startools at Bin 2x2 the core is nicely resolved with the trapezium blazing away and igniting this Great Nebula. I'm interested in which version you prefer. I will combine both data sets for a final image of this iconic emission nebula.

Uploaded: ...

C

Title: 10 second exposures, total 13.5 minutes

Description: For my final revision, I have combined the original data 2x2) with revision B (captured 1x1 and binned on processing), to provide a total integration of 13.5 minutes. Much more detail, and colour saturation is visible in this revision. The stars were better in Revision B (1x1 capture and binned during processing). Binning on data capture tends to saturate the stars, losing colour and leading to some bloating. Your comments and feedback on any or all of my revisions is welcome.

Uploaded: ...

D

Title: Original and Revision B layered in Startools 1.8

Description: Rather than combining and processing the data from the original image and revision B, I have layered these using a multiply gamma adjust blend 50:50 to show off the trapezium and detail in the core, without losing the detail in the outer shell of this magnificent nebula.

Uploaded: ...

F

Title: Au naturel - Orion uncovered.

Description: I have added some further 10s subs collected on 10 March to my original data, and this now comprises 11'50" integration. I have purposely not pushed the processing but applied a standard workflow in Startools, adding contrast, taming highlights, to ensure the core does not blow out, and using the natural (scientifically derived) colour module - I kept a little green to accent the teal colours within the core which is rich in ionised oxygen; followed by noise reduction. No layering, different stretches or masking of the core - just Startools 'scientific magic'.

Uploaded: ...

The OSC Club (One Shot Camera)
UK Astro-Imaging
Altair Astro 183 M/C Hypercams
Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope (SCT) Imagers

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	5574924
PixInsight job	4LLEQ3MPV8B6MR00P2B0FWLE2V2WKDRE
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	05h35m20s.30
RA (top/left)	05h37m03s.18
RA (top/right)	05h33m29s.39
RA (bottom/right)	05h33m37s.90
RA (bottom/left)	05h37m11s.54

Dec (center)	-05°23′47″.8
Dec (top/left)	-05°04′45″.6
Dec (top/right)	-05°07′48″.1
Dec (bottom/right)	-05°42′56″.3
Dec (bottom/left)	-05°39′53″.3

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