M42/43 Orion ASI2600MC-PRO

[nexusjeep]

Had another clear Wednesday last week that's two in a row what's next world peace so used decided to use the Brain to calculate the exposure but limited it to a minimum of 30s maximum 10 mins and it chose 30 seconds gain 0 and black level off 12 so thought what the heck lets give it ago. The image below is the stack of the best 324 x 30s frames I actually gathered 360 so the integration is 2hrs 42mins.

The images were collected without any noise pollution filter under a bortle 5 sky, for this image I did fit the 0.75x reducer flattener and did not seat it correctly as I have a bit of tilt along the top of the image if you study the stars. The guiding was via the ED72 with 0.8 reducer with 290m camera and the total error for the evening on PHD2 stayed under 0.88" rms with RA at 0.6" RMS and DEC 0.64"

This image has a full set of calibration frames but in the future as per my thoughts in the thread under general about the ASI2600MC and darks / dark flats in the future I will probably only shoot flats + bias frames.

Imaging kit : APM-LZOS 130/780 + 0.75x MR reducer / flattener, ASI2600MC-Pro+EAF
Mount : M-UNO Synscan
Guide : Skywatcher ED72Pro+0.8x reducer Altair 290M guide camera
Software: SharpCap, GSS Mount control software, PHD2, Stellarium, APP, Affinity Photo 1.9

Image 324 x 30s at 0g -10C / 10 Darks / 100 Flats / 100 FlatDarks / 100 Bias

21_02_10_Orion_Nebula_M42_43_324x30s_bl12_0g_-10c by Nick Davis, on Flickr

[timh]

That's a great image of the three nebulae that looks sharp all the way across the field notwithstanding any slight error with the flattener set up,
Tim

[nexusjeep]

Hi Tim
Thanks for that this is the first time I have really managed to get the running man to come out as the two previous attempts over the past couple of years did not really show it the more I use the ASI2600MC-PRO the more impressed I am with it I have the ASI1600MM-PRO + Astonomik narrowband and LRGB filters but do not really see myself going back to it as everything is just easier with the 2600 and if the session gets cut short due to the UK weather I still have data that can build a complete image,

Cheers
Nick

[timh]

Hi Nick,

Yes I have come to probably a similar approach because everything here is just so reliant on opportunistic gaps in UK weather. i.e. I use the OSC if the moon is not up to get stand-alone RGB images --- and when the sky is lighter then the mono camera comes into its own for narrow band. It's funny isn't it how the weather apps so rarely agree. The key skill I think is learning how to get set up quickly and working out which objects will be in an unobscured position at the crucial time.

Tim