Rite of passage

[DaveAus]

Oh no. Not another M42! Boring! And yet imaging this region seems to be most every beginner's rite of passage. And who am I to buck the trend? So here is my attempt, warts and all.

Atik 383L+ mono and Vixen R200SS f/4 8” newtonian. A mosaic of two panels, each panel being 6 x 10 minutes of R, G and B. Adding a luminence channel proved to be counter-productive. Software : Artemis Capture, Dawn and Photoshop.

See http://www.astrobin.com/full/148448/B/ for a larger resolution view.

[NickK]

Really nice!

I did an LRGB M42 with a 383L a couple of years ago - it works really well with HDR. Each channel I took 9x10 minute, 15x10 second and 27x4 second sets of exposures however I think that could be adjusted a little better by going for a 30-60 second set too. The shorter the subs the more of them you want for better noise reduction.

M42 is one of the hardest targets because of the dynamic range.