The Great Orion Nebula

Hi all, It was some incredible clear night here in Cavan last night, the sky was superb with the milkyway so bright. I have learned a lot since my last post with my new CGE mount, and decided to have a real go at the Great Orion Nebula M42 with the C80ED.

This is a stack of 48x75 second exposures at ISO800 with the Canon 40D, unguided on the CGE mount with 30 dark frames also. This deep sky stuff is addictive! I know we've all seen M42 before over and over, but I'm delighted with the result, I do hope you like it.

It was hard to bring out the detail in the fainter parts of the nebula without burning out the core, I think i have a good balance? Any processing tips on that would be most welcome.

www.webtreatz.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-69

Staying up until 5am was worth the effort.

Keith.

Very nice shot Keith. The mount really makes all the difference. I can normally get between 3-5 minutes with the CGE without obvious trailing with no guiding - provided I have done a good polar alignment.

I never get tired of it!
Brill shot Keith,
wish I had the patience to take those kind of keepers.

Keith a very lovely image - it really appeals to me.

The sky was exceptionally transparent in the Dublin 15 area last night too.

I was out at 02:00 and was pretty much gob-smacked with the clarity.

Betelgeuse looked almost artificially rendered it was so red and Rigel (and others) so blue in comparison. The sky was like a Christmass tree!

Glad to see that someone was able to to more than eyeballing and make the most of it.

Mark

Great image Keith, the extent and subtlety of the nebulosity is beautifully captured. And achieved with a relatively modest number of exposures - I'm envious of those dark Cavan skies. Seems like you're on a roll now. Mike.

Keith

That's fabulous. I'd be so proud to have that pic in my album (hopefully I'll get there sometime)

All the best
Steve