M42 chronicles

A place to share images that you have taken with SharpCap.
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Please upload large images to photo sharing sites (flickr, etc) rather than trying to upload them as forum attachments.

Please share the equipment used and if possible camera settings to help others.
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turfpit
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M42 chronicles

#1

Post by turfpit »

Chronicle - "an account of events arranged chronologically without analysis or interpretation".

When I started out, I had no background in astronomy or photography and I didn't know my 'alt' from my 'az' :lol:

Posted in the hope it will encourage others to persevere.

2016-11-08
2016-11-08.JPG
2016-11-08.JPG (7.79 KiB) Viewed 7976 times

2017-01-05
2017-01-05.JPG
2017-01-05.JPG (15.54 KiB) Viewed 7976 times

2017-10-31
2017-10-31.JPG
2017-10-31.JPG (10.39 KiB) Viewed 7976 times

2018-02-03
2018-02-03.JPG
2018-02-03.JPG (11.03 KiB) Viewed 7976 times
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admin
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Re: M42 chronicles

#2

Post by admin »

Hi Dave,

those pictures really show progress - the last one has much sharper focus than the others which makes a big difference. Same equipment throughout or have you been upgrading?

cheers,

Robin
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turfpit
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Re: M42 chronicles

#3

Post by turfpit »

Thanks Robin.

Celestron C8 scope throughout. 1st & 2nd images same camera - what happened in between those dates was the Gary Palmer Deep Sky Imaging workshop (6 hours and a 300 mile round trip). 3rd and 4th images 2 different cameras but these see the introduction of a Bahtinov mask and JMI Motorised focuser plus greater understanding of the use of the histogram and the interaction of exposure, gain and offset/black level/brightness.

I suppose I should revisit with the first camera and post back for comparison.

Dave
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turfpit
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Re: M42 chronicles

#4

Post by turfpit »

2018-10-10

Orion-100x15s-g200-bl50.jpg
Orion-100x15s-g200-bl50.jpg (94.59 KiB) Viewed 7745 times
Not a bad return for an investment in 25 minutes of time (+ the 30 minutes of mount alignment, polar alignment, focusing, checking the histogram of a single frame in FITs Liberator).

Dave
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turfpit
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Re: M42 chronicles

#5

Post by turfpit »

2018-12-13
M42-60x60s.jpg
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Dave
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oopfan
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Re: M42 chronicles

#6

Post by oopfan »

Dave,

Your images are improving at an exponential rate. Like you say, discipline and organization are the keys to success. "Art" is for those who leave things to chance.

Brian
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turfpit
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Re: M42 chronicles

#7

Post by turfpit »

Cheers Brian. Focus was with a Bahtinov Mask, the 60s frames were unguided, shot through intermittent thin cloud which resulted in 50% of the frames being rejected. Still a good return on 30 frames.

Dave
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Re: M42 chronicles

#8

Post by BlackWikkett »

Hi,

Nice image, which camera is this? Did you use darks and flats? Was this live stacked or captured raw then stacked outside of SC?

-Wikkett
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turfpit
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Re: M42 chronicles

#9

Post by turfpit »

Thanks Wickett.

Traditional capture of RAW files with darks, flats and bias frames. Processed In SiriL and GIMP. Because of the cloud I did apply some noise reduction in GIMP.

This thread is more about the journey and to try to get over to beginners that my improvement is about mount alignment, polar alignment, focusing, checking the histogram of a single frame in FITs Liberator rather than equipment.

Dave
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Re: M42 chronicles

#10

Post by psy1280 »

Wow! Your M42 is inspiring as is your encouragement to all us beginners.

Much thanks,
Joe
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