M42 Orion

This is my first serious attempt from my dark "green" zone, with my new equipment. I've been figuring out and learning lots on new techniques, settings, and programs. Finally had a clear Moonless night...unfortunately it was 13 degrees F. Other than the cold, it was nice to get back out where it is dark. I had to shoot one of my favorite targets, M42.

EQ6-R Pro (new)
ZWO ASI071MC-Pro (new)
AT65EDQ
UV/IR filter
55 x 240 Light
10 x Darks
30 x Flats and Dark Flats
Capture program N.I.N.A.
Processed with Pixinsight and Photoshop

https://flic.kr/p/2ijw​ifk

Spectacular!

Cool. Well done.

Superb and from a color sensor! Lovely!

Very best,

Wife says,” oh, I really like that!”
Me too!

Nicely processed as well.

I've just come over from Canon bodies, so I'm actually more comfortable with OSC processing at this time. I also have a ASI1600MM-Pro. I'm starting to get used to it. I still don't have the Narrowband imaging figured out. Of course it'd help to get some sky time

Thank you all. It really is an awesome target. Like I said, it's in my top favorites

Thank you

that is totally awesome

this is quite impressive. I've been slowly wading into this type of photography...wanting to invest in the right gear. Where could you point me to in order to learn the PP techniques to get results like this if you don't mind me asking.

Youtube and Cloudy nights are very good sources. I am in the DSS (Deep Sky Stacker) astro imaging group, and they have "challenge" files and walkthrough videos that will take you through specific targets. Here is one for M31 that helped me greatly. I have saved many tutorial videos like this and still go back to them sometimes.

http://www.myastronomy​journal.com …AIP/C002-M31-Walkthrough/

the DSS Group
https://groups.yahoo.c​om …roups/DeepSkySt​acker/info


Every video this guy put out are short and wonderful processing tutorials
https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=xjLtbAAjwRA

I have lots of videos like these in my archives because they help so much. I have started using PixInsight and I am getting my best results with a combination of both PixInsight then Photoshop. Astrobin is a really good site to go to (and possibly subscribe). You can find interesting targets, images taken with similar equipment that you have, and the setting used to get the images. They also have data archives that you can download and practice processing.
https://www.astrobin.c​om/users/Toxic_Coolaid​/

If I have gone a long time without processing I start to forget some of the little things that make a big difference. PixInsight is a whole new learning experience and is designed for astrophotography, and as of now I pretty much have a tutorial running as I process any further than the basic stuff.

To help you along, practice is the best thing. Hopefully this helps.

absolutely sunning ^_^

how do these images measure up against renting telescope time?

I've never rented any scope time, so I'd have to say for 1 image this was much more expensive I would think the rental equipment would the some of the best equipment in some of the best locations.... the best of the best. I have pretty decent equipment (around $4000 with this setup) and an average dark site (Yellow/Green Zone). I am extremely happy with this image and it is definitely the best M42 I've done. Could I do better? Probably so. I only had 3.7 hours of imaging time, and Orion wasn't in the best part of the sky. But I will always nit pick my images. If you mean remote telescope rental you can Google "Deep Sky West M42" and see what you can find. I guess the best part of remote rental is that you can choose to focal length of scope for your specific target, you'll be using a wonderful mount that is completely setup perfectly. To me it would feel like processing someone else's data because for me imaging is a significant part of the process. However, you're still driving a car even if you've rented it, right. You may want to give rental a shot and decide from there.

My desire to capture DSO's far outweighs my budget to do it the way I'd want to. I love your image to be sure, but can I head out into the desert on a new moon? Yes. Can I capture what you did? Yes. Can I devote the resources to it? Nope. I've been very happy with my MW images, but that's a 15-30mm f2.8 lens, my 5DM4, and a remote trigger for the 25-30 second exposures. So my curiosity isn't so great at this point to warrant the investment in my own setup.