M42 Orion Nebula and running Man 15.12.2010

[Carole]

Started this on 14.12.2010 but by the time it was all set up it was gone midnight.  

Focus slipped after the first 4 subs so only 4 subs useable despite locking the drawtube (another problem I need to get sorted).  
4 x 5mins at 800 ISO Canon 450D minus 4 degrees.  + Darks flats and bias.
Plus 20 x 30secs 200 ISO for the trapezium (not sure if I've managed this properly as it's the first time I've done it).
WO megrez, 72APO and guided
This is a crop in order to zoom in on the subject.

[RobertM]

That's starting to look quite impressive Carole.  The colour balance needs addressing but other than that it's a very good attempt.

[Carole]

Thanks Robert, just replaced it with a reprocess and hadn't realised you had already replied.  Images are coming out very red since I had my DSLR modified and having a bit of difficulty reducing the red, but did better on the 2nd attempt.  Was quite surprised to have got this with only 20 minutes subs.  

The Running man NGC1977 extracted from the above stack.



Carole

[MarkS]

Carole,

This is by far your best image so far. 
Nicely acquired (the 4 subs you used) - the stars are sharp and round.
Well processed - I like the way the bright core blends seamlessly into the rest of the image.

The Running Man you have extracted is very good for just 20 minutes.  In fact it looks far cleaner and better processed it does in the large image.  So what did you do differently?  If you can do the same thing to the large image you will get an even better M42.

Mark

[Carole]

Just done a green reduction on the image which I think has improved the background sky.