Orion Nebula & Constellation

str1nger

str1nger

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213
Name
Mike
Edit My Images
Yes
Took these while I had some cloud free nights.

ConstellationOrioncopy.jpg


If you look at Orions sword (the three vertical ones below his belt) the middle one is a smaller version of the next image.

OrionNebulacopy.jpg


Hope you enjoy

C&C Always Welcome
 
I used:
Canon 28mm F1.8 for the constellation
Canon L 70-200 F2.8 for the nebula shot
 
A nice start there Mike... For the widefield of Orion, that's a single frame at 10s. Push the ISO higher, try at f/4 or maybe even wider, if you can, you'll need to experiment, but try and get a longer exposure. Then, don't just take one, take at least 20, perhaps 30 shots at the same settings. Cap the lens, and keeping the settings identical, take another 10 shots. The images are Lights, the capped ones are Darks. Load the files into Deep Sky Stacker using those files types, click register checked, and let it get on with it. At the end, you will need to set the saturation in DSS to 20% to get any colour to show.

See what sort of difference that makes. M42 should be more visible..

For M42 and M43 itself, I'm really very impressed you got as much detail as you did with only a single 1s exposure. Again, push the aperture wider and stack the images, that will actually help reduce the noise in the image too.

Without a tracking mount, 20 or 30 very short exposures is probably the limit of what you can get away with. But... it's all very good experience.
 
test-Editcopy.jpg

Let me know what you think
 
Last edited:
Is that the same image with the darks applied Mike ? The colour has gone a bit odd, but it's far more like you'd see through an eyepiece now. You need multiple lights to combine also.
 
Good stuff stringer

jgs001 said:
A nice start there Mike... For the widefield of Orion, that's a single frame at 10s. Push the ISO higher, try at f/4 or maybe even wider, if you can, you'll need to experiment, but try and get a longer exposure. Then, don't just take one, take at least 20, perhaps 30 shots at the same settings. Cap the lens, and keeping the settings identical, take another 10 shots. The images are Lights, the capped ones are Darks. Load the files into Deep Sky Stacker using those files types, click register checked, and let it get on with it. At the end, you will need to set the saturation in DSS to 20% to get any colour to show.

See what sort of difference that makes. M42 should be more visible..

For M42 and M43 itself, I'm really very impressed you got as much detail as you did with only a single 1s exposure. Again, push the aperture wider and stack the images, that will actually help reduce the noise in the image too.

Without a tracking mount, 20 or 30 very short exposures is probably the limit of what you can get away with. But... it's all very good experience.
Click to expand...

Good tips/tut John (y)

Will have to try some more star shots soon, if I can brave the cold!

drew
 
I think these are great for a first attempt. This is something I would love to try.
Keep at it.






jgs001 said:
Push the ISO higher, try at f/4 or maybe even wider, if you can, you'll need to experiment, but try and get a longer exposure.
Click to expand...

John, is this correct? If you shoot wider, wouldn't you expose shorter?
 
I like the simplicity of the first one... Maybe a slightly longer exposure needed though?
 
Johnny Thunder said:
John, is this correct? If you shoot wider, wouldn't you expose shorter?
Click to expand...

Nope...for normal photography yes, you're right. But for Astro, you want to shoot with the shortest focal ratio, with the longest shutter speed and the highest ISO you can get away with. The limit is the skyglow from light polution etc. and dealing with planes, satellites and other passing objects. 5 minute exposures @ ISO800 seems to be about optimal for my 450d.

Remember the inverse square law for radiation, the intensity falls off with the inverse of the square of the distance. And some of these targets are very faint and a very very long way way. The Orion Nebula is a little over 1300 light years (much less than a stones throw) away and is actually very much bigger than has been captured here, which is just the bright core (the Trapesium). And there is some very very faint dust clouds in around the nebula.

Don't get me wrong, Mike has done a great job of capturing it with the short subs (sub exposures) he used.
 
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