M45 multi nights

[JohnP_1]

I was able to get out last weekend even thought he evil orb was out and about. I was reinstalling my Windows installation so it took a while to get everything to talk to each other. I combined the data was Saturday with data from a previous session to improve the SNR.

scope: ES ED102 APO CF MoonLite w/auto focus! FR/FF(s): Stellarvue 0.8 FR/FF

Thanks for looking


M45-multi.Dec-2019 by John Pombrio, on Flickr

[MariusD69]

Awesome! Great work, John!

[mbocca]

John,
Thanks for sharing this image. M45 is difficult to get the balance of the bright starts and the nebulosity. Did you use multiple exposures for higher dynamic range or were you able to get both with one exposure setting?

Mike

[STEVE333]

Beauty John - One of your best.

Steve

[UlteriorModem]

That's very nice!

I notice the reddish glow on the right hand side of your M45 same as mine! Here I thought it was a camera defect

[Astrovetteman]

Hey John, that's a beauty!! I just found some subs I took earlier this month that I forgot to process.....hope mine comes out half as good as yours!!
Great Job!!@
Tom

[JohnP_1]

John,
Thanks for sharing this image. M45 is difficult to get the balance of the bright starts and the nebulosity. Did you use multiple exposures for higher dynamic range or were you able to get both with one exposure setting?

Mike

Hi MIke. This past weekend I took images at 60s, 300s, and one at 1200s. (I was concerned about the Evil One's influence on the glare.) I did a high dynamic range combine using DSS. (DSS will erase most of the hot pixels, which are a real problem with the Atik.) After stretching and getting the best image I could using the data from the one night, I processed my best previous night image with this last one in Nebulosity 4 to align them. I then combined them in Photoshop manually and liked the result. My latest imaging has improved the focus on the whole star field as well as fewer issues with star trails. Someday, I may pull the originals raw files out of storage for the older data and combine them that way. I felt lucky to even get out last weekend.

[JohnP_1]

That's very nice!

I notice the reddish glow on the right hand side of your M45 same as mine! Here I thought it was a camera defect

I have seen that reddish glow on every image I've taken of M45 over approx. 120s. With the Atik, the background sky did not even register with an exposure of 60s. I might even have better luck using the DSLR if I was limited to shorter exposures. With the pixels sizes being different, I don't usually mix and max the data sets. I routinely combine new data with older data if it improves the final draft.