M42 processing using over 35 hours of data from the RASC Robotic Telescope (Rick Veregin)

Celestial hemisphere: Southern · Constellation: Orion (Ori) · Contains: De Mairan's nebula · Great Orion Nebula · LBN 974 · M 42 · M 43 · Mairan's Nebula · NGC 1976 · NGC 1982 · Orion Nebula · PGC 3081010 · Sh2-281 · The star θ1Ori · The star θ2Ori

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M42 processing using over 35 hours of data from the RASC Robotic Telescope

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M42 processing using over 35 hours of data from the RASC Robotic Telescope

This image shows a close-up of the Orion Nebula M42 using data from the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Robotic Telescope, taken from Dec 2021 to Jan 2022.

Total of 34.75 hours: Lum 4.75hrs, RGB 4hrs, Ha 16hrs, and OIII 10hrs. And additionally 36mins LRGB @ 60s exposures included to expose for bright Trapezium region.

Lum. 19@900 s (1x1); RGB 8@600 each (2x2): NB (Ha/OIII) 32/20@1,800 (1x1); and Lum. 18@60s and RGB 6@60s each.

Taken at Sierra Remote Observatories, Auberry, California with a RCOS 16" f/8.9 (3550mm focal length) on a Paramount ME mount. Filters were SBIG LRGB; SBIG Ha (7nm), OIII (8.5nm).

I did the calibration (darks/flats), registration and stacking using DeepSkyStacker. Each of the 3 datasets were processed separately in StarTools. Starless images were created using the StarXterminator Plugin in Photoshop, with manual corrections. In Photoshop all the starless layers were combined (LRGB core, LRGB, and L(Ha)HOO) and then the LRGB stars were added on top. I used color dodge rather than my usual screen to add the stars in, which seemed to work better against the bright nebulosity. I would have preferred to leave the stars out, but the blue regions around bright blue stars looked odd without stars in them. I tried to de-emphasize most of the stars to let the nebulosity remain dominant. And I tried to balance the brightness from the faintest clouds to the brightest regions to provide the widest dynamic range I could manage. This was partly done in Photoshop, but also aided by the local contrast and HDR modules in StarTools.

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	5521952
PixInsight job	DEDLA7RAEZI1M6NX6STMPL6D3UZ7LU88
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	05h35m06s.20
RA (top/left)	05h34m19s.47
RA (top/right)	05h36m31s.19
RA (bottom/right)	05h35m52s.44
RA (bottom/left)	05h33m40s.90

Dec (center)	-05°25′43″.1
Dec (top/left)	-05°46′56″.5
Dec (top/right)	-05°37′15″.7
Dec (bottom/right)	-05°04′31″.6
Dec (bottom/left)	-05°14′09″.3

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M42 processing using over 35 hours of data from the RASC Robotic Telescope

M42 processing using over 35 hours of data from the RASC Robotic Telescope

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M42 processing using over 35 hours of data from the RASC Robotic Telescope

M42 processing using over 35 hours of data from the RASC Robotic Telescope

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