20220127 - M42 Orion - This is no longer a drill, this is for real
What’s in the picture(s) -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_NebulaQuote “The Orion Nebula (also known as Messier 42, M42, or NGC 1976) is a
diffuse nebula situated in the
Milky Way, being south of
Orion's Belt in the
constellation of Orion. It is one of the brightest
nebulae and is visible to the
naked eye in the night sky. It is 1,344 ± 20
light-years away and is the closest region of massive
star formation to
Earth”What was the experience
Earlier last year, I had done a first test-run of M42 with my TS94 scope, hoping to repeat the shoot ‘for real’ later in the year. Since then the clouds haven’t been too favourable to be able to do that. Amidst the clouds, fog, full moon and the other targets, I only had 2 nights where I could spend a couple of hours on everyone’s favourite target.
All new data, split into 2 different exposure times and with improved processing skills, this has allowed me to get my first (real/base-) version of M42. Reduced exposure times, to avoid the halos from the L-enhance, straight processing, no adjusted colour palette (L-Enhance is HOO-like anyway), just about enough to get a glimpse of the surrounding nebulae (although the faint gas is a little bit ‘garbled’) and avoid over-exposing the core. Stars softly reduced, to make the nebula stand out better. Framed a little bit off-center to get the flow of nebulosity towards Barnard’s loop, but image-angles still aligned to the RA and Dec axis.
The drawback with the L-enhance seems to be losing out on the blues. Maybe a future run with just the L-Pro. Still want to get in more data, but happy with the result … so far
How it was done
Scope: TS-94 APO (FL 414mm)
Mount: EQ6-R Pro
Camera: ASI2600MC Pro
Filter: L-Enhance
Photons:
20220124 L-Enhance 120s 60x
20220127 L-Enhance 60s 57x
Processing: PixInsight (Mac)
What have I learned from this
Happy that my insight into filter-impact (ie. halos), exposure times and processing skills have evolved. I feel that I finally have a base version that I can build on for future imaging. Any further guidance to help me improve is appreciated.
Clear Skies everybody! 🤩✨🔭
Follow me @astrowaut
Comments