quite possibly the worst flame and horsehead nebula ever. ST80 F5 scope

[realflow100]

9 frames iso 1600 1 minute exposure length
bortle 7-8
SVBony UHC filter used to reduce light pollution
only 9 minutes!

I have no clue how but I got both flame and horsehead nebula visible! Main target was flame as I was expecting it to be just barely visible but did not expect horsehead to be included!
I've got an unmodified canon SL1/100D DSLR and orion ST80 F5 telescope for this image
Star adventurer 2i pro mount

Lots of periodic error. though somehow DSS was able to stack the frames anyways I got super lucky.

heres the result. theres a lot of walking noise that could be fixed if I set the mount to dither (Also polar alignment is a bit crappy. but the main problem was periodic error. not polar alignment)
Two versions of the image.

[Gmetric]

Given the integration time, lack of calibration frames, tracking problems, scope and unmodified camera you did great! Luckily, they are closely situated so I'm not surprised that you got both in the frame, but I'm surprised that your unmodified DSLR was able to pick up as much HA as it did. With a little more practice, a few more subs, some calibration files and dithering you'll get a respectable image with your equipment. Keep it up.

[KathyNS]

A for effort! Keep at it. It sounds like you know what needs fixing, so I'll be looking for a gorgeous image soon.

[Greenman]

Sure you are on the path to perfecting this - don't feel deflated by the image we have all started somewhere. Took me years to get to the horsehead at all.

[realflow100]

I'm kind of shocked how well defined horsehead is. regardless of the noise. it really stands out somehow.

[carastro]

As stated a) For effort. Every problematic image means there are lessons learned.

It’s a darn sight better than my first horsehead.

Carole

[realflow100]

New version.
Dithering (I used 8 arcmins of dither)
Only 10s exposures

5 minutes of exposure time. HALF of my previous image.
No UHC filter. iso 1600
And flame nebula looks amazing. horsehead is not as great contrast. but its outlined better.
also an extra cropped edit version of just the flame nebula

[jthommes]

This latest result is much, much improved - congrats!

I suspect it is the shorter exposures (and more of them) that helped the most. But dithering may have contributed as well. I think the walking noise was a lot about effective pixel rejection in the integration (or lack thereof). This is why I think the larger number of subs may have been the prominent reason for the improved result.

[realflow100]

Yeah like spreading out the "random" noise more.

Theoretically if you could shoot enough 1/10 shutter speed images while somehow dithering between every frame and not taking a lot of time to do the dithering. and then comine them together. stacking and aligning them. you would have GOD level of pixel rejection.
So you'd gain even more signal than just pointing the camera straight at the target and exposing for the same amount of time. because you'd be rejection a LOT more "random" noise and keeping more signal.