My 2021 Orion Nebula

[Andy Nowlen]

HI All,

Where I live in Oregon we have had about 8 hours of clear night skies in the last 2 months. Aaarrrggghh! So I have very little to post about.
In my 2021 version of the Orion Nebula, I decided to really try to preserve the core. This image results from about 16 minutes of 10-second images and 36 minutes of 30-second images.
It was hard to process. The 10-second images from my rig were noisy and the stack was only a bit better. The 30-second images were ok but the stack was a bit dim. My filter creates halos on the bright stars. So far, in my experience, there is not much to do about it. So I decided to ignore it as best possible. Overall I'm ok with the result and pleased that the trapezium in the core survived at least on my primary monitor. I think the posted JPG is a bit washed out. Sorry about that. I think I met my 2021 Orion goal.



Asi533mc pro
optolong l-extreme filter
Takahashi 106n @ 530mm
ioptron CEM40EC
ZWO EAF
Asi462 guide camera
Svbony 60mm guide scope
AsiAirpro
Astropixel processor
Pixinsight
Photoshop
Starxterminator

 

[AlanLichty]

You did well with the light you did manage to capture. This is a nice looking edition of this nebula.

It has been a bit on the damp side this fall in the PNW.

 

[JimFox]

Wow Andy!!!! Wow! I love the look of this. Such incredible depth in what I call the wings. This is so sweet!!!

I am about to pull the trigger on the ASI294mc Pro, so I have really been watching the results of others shooting with OSC cameras. I just realized I didn’t even notice any halos as the Orion is so captivating, my mind never really wandered to looking at stars.

I will say that the star halos though that the L-Extreme produces is why I am going to just get the L-Enhance filter instead to start with. I figure I can always get the L-Extreme down the line if I decide I need a narrower band.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Love the depth and detail of this image.

 

[Dan Moorehead]

Quite stunning!

 

[Andy Nowlen]

Many thanks. Some day the clouds will clear in my B6 home area, OR, I will head to the mountains for a better dark sky view. In the Willamette Valley of Oregon, I am not sure when that might occur. Clouds all around and snow on the mountain tops.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Andy,

I like this. In my experience, this is THE HDR target in astro - it is just really hard to get all the detail throughout the core and the faint areas. I have played with this same issue on M42, and took various stacks of various exposure lengths. It is possible and desirable to do that I think, but if the technique is taken too far then it starts to really look artificial IMHO (just like HDR techniques applied to terrestrial photography can look if overdone.) Honestly, I think you have struck an excellent balance here.

ML