M45 from Lydd - Work in Progress

[MarkS]

Dee saw a fuzzy object rising above the horizon and asked me if I knew what it was - it was M45.   After trying to count the 7 sisters with the naked eye she looked at them through binoculars and said, "Oh, I'd like a picture of that".

So here it is - "Dee's Nebula"

M45 taken from Norwood Farm near Lydd - Sat 26/09/2009
24 x 5min
Modified Canon EOS350D on Skywatcher ED80 with William Optics 0.8x MkII reducer/flattener

The light leakage at the bottom right looks like residual amp glow that the darks did not remove.  I'll try to optimise the darks a bit better when I process this properly.



Here is the larger version (which is a 2x2 bin of the full frame):
http://gallery.orpington-astronomy.org.uk/albums/userpics/10046/m45_260909.jpg

Mark

[JohnP]

Fantastic Mark - lovely star colours & fantastic FOV..

Don't think 'Dee's Nebula' will stick though somehow..... 

John

[RobertM]

I really like that Mark, a great image of Dees Nebula ooops! the Pleiades.  An excellent fov and as John has mentioned, the star colours are lovely.

[The Thing]

OMG2

The colours are fantastic.

[Rocket Pooch]

ok thats it I'm getting a modded SLR!

[JohnP]

ok thats it I'm getting a modded SLR!

Just think 1-shot colour.........

[Daniel]

Fantastic man, and amazing you got this over the weekend, I did 2 hours on M45 with the hyperstar myself, and the results were no way near as good.

Daniel
:O)

[JohnP]

Mark - Looking at it yet again - I love the brown dust that is showing through... This really is a top notch image - Well done,  John

[Fay]

Oh Mark, you have done it again. Have been looking forward to these images, really great, lovely field of view!!!

[Mike]

Fantastic image Mark. Lovely colours.

[MarkS]

I love the brown dust that is showing through...

Yes, the outer "brown" nebulosity is just beginning to appear.  Another 10 hours would bring it out nicely!

[MarkS]

I did 2 hours on M45 with the hyperstar myself, and the results were no way near as good.

It's the difference a dark site (with a very clear sky) makes!  Get your hyperstar down to one and your images will be truly awesome with your amazingly fast F-ratio.

Mark

[Rocket Pooch]

Goto love those ED80.

[Daniel]

I did 2 hours on M45 with the hyperstar myself, and the results were no way near as good.

It's the difference a dark site (with a very clear sky) makes!  Get your hyperstar down to one and your images will be truly awesome with your amazingly fast F-ratio.

Mark

Don't fancy a camping trip do you?

[MarkS]

Goto love those ED80.

Indeed.  I plan to keep it quite busy this Winter ...

[MarkS]

Here's the final version:



Using a proper dark frame got rid of the amp glow on the right hand side and reduced overall noise slightly.  

And here it is full size, without any scaling - the image can just about take being full size.
http://gallery.orpington-astronomy.org.uk/albums/userpics/10046/m45_260909v2.jpg

Look carefully and you might see one or two galaxies in the background.

It makes an interesting comparison to John/Noel partnership http://forum.orpington-astronomy.org.uk/index.php?topic=5173.0

Mine was completely processed in IRIS except that I used Photoshop Elements to remove some hot pixels and to apply noise reduction.

Mark

[Fay]

It really is a nice image Mark. A change to see wide field & not cropped. I like it very much

[JohnP]

I have to say it again Mark - it's superb & really well processed & all your own work unlike mine... Star colours are great & you have really kept noise down. There is tons of detail & I love the faint fuzzies...

Tremendous - John

[Mac]

very nice.

[RobertM]

Looks wonderful Mark, it would make a great wall poster.

[Daniel]

Fantastic image mark, would kill for those star colours and that fainter slightly brown nebulosity at the bottom is coming through really nice.

Daniel
:O)