Night M42 a lucky single

M42 a lucky single · **10 Likes**

I seem to have proven once again that Space is indeed not black.

M42 is also known as "The Great Orion Nebula" but I call it my nemesis. I'm very excited by this year's earliest effort and had to share it everywhere. After a long night battling my usual string of difficulties(balance, bad cable, pc lockup at 18sec remaining,focus, mount leg slipped, polar alignment etc.) I finally noticed that orion had passed above the 40+ degree mark needed to clear my trees about 2:00am. Having had a few decent guiding runs and a guiding indicator target full of sub 1arc second hits, I decided to stay up and give it a try. Glad I did. 15 minutes later I had this monster in the can.

Pentax K5
exposure: 900 seconds @ iso100
Skywatcher EQ6r-pro mount guided by a converted finder scope+asi120s

I used Opensource software Siril ,RAWTherapee, and GIMP to remove green, noise, color calibrate, stretch, asinh stretch and resize for web use.

More about my move to using Super long exposure or "SLE" can be read at Smith River Photography

Cheers!

**blues_hawk** · 12-05-2019, 07:25 PM - **1 Like**

Originally posted by aitrus3

Nice job Blues Hawk. Well done! Love the flares!

Thank you!

The flares are actually caused by the crossbars that hold the secondary mirror in place. So whenever you see crosses like that it's probably a newtonian telescope.

aitrus3 · 12-05-2019, 09:48 PM

Originally posted by blues_hawk

Thank you!

The flares are actually caused by the crossbars that hold the secondary mirror in place. So whenever you see crosses like that it's probably a newtonian telescope.

Yeah, I figured it was Newtonian. Only flares that look good on deep space photographs. Refractors don't produce them at all, and stopped down camera lenses can produce too many, not to mention make it quite a bit darker.

Still a good job!

uday029 · 12-06-2019, 12:30 AM

Just wooooow! Cant take my eyes of it.

**blues_hawk** · 12-06-2019, 10:18 PM

Originally posted by aitrus3

Yeah, I figured it was Newtonian. Only flares that look good on deep space photographs. Refractors don't produce them at all, and stopped down camera lenses can produce too many, not to mention make it quite a bit darker.

Still a good job!

Correct and well noted.

**blues_hawk** · 12-06-2019, 10:33 PM

Originally posted by uday029

Just wooooow! Cant take my eyes of it.

Thank you! I've found myself doing that too. It takes a minute or two to find the little bits that make you go ..wow...that's a ...look at that!

And thanks to all those early commenter's I may have missed. This photo represents years of rpg photography awesomeness, from DIY fails to frustration to testing for developers to trying new things and finally... holy crap look at that!

**blues_hawk** · 12-06-2019, 10:34 PM - **2 Likes**

I entered a landscape view of this one in the December contest in hopes of garnering more support for Pentax amateur AP efforts. Outreach for astronomy has become important to me in the last few years and just being able to showcase what is now possible with modest equipment has been very rewarding. I'll be happy to answer any questions as I find them.

Cheers and clear skies!

Photogoof · 01-10-2020, 03:37 AM - **1 Like**

Originally posted by blues_hawk

I seem to have proven once again that Space is indeed not black.

M42 is also known as "The Great Orion Nebula" but I call it my nemesis. I'm very excited by this year's earliest effort and had to share it everywhere. After a long night battling my usual string of difficulties(balance, bad cable, pc lockup at 18sec remaining,focus, mount leg slipped, polar alignment etc.) I finally noticed that orion had passed above the 40+ degree mark needed to clear my trees about 2:00am. Having had a few decent guiding runs and a guiding indicator target full of sub 1arc second hits, I decided to stay up and give it a try. Glad I did. 15 minutes later I had this monster in the can.

Pentax K5
exposure: 900 seconds @ iso100
Skywatcher EQ6r-pro mount guided by a converted finder scope+asi120s

I used Opensource software Siril ,RAWTherapee, and GIMP to remove green, noise, color calibrate, stretch, asinh stretch and resize for web use.

More about my move to using Super long exposure or "SLE" can be read at Smith River Photography

Cheers!

I love these space shots.

blues_hawk
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12-05-2019, 07:25 PM - 1 Like	#31
blues_hawk Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2016 Location: Patrick Co. Virginia Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,534 Original Poster	Originally posted by aitrus3 Nice job Blues Hawk. Well done! Love the flares! Thank you! The flares are actually caused by the crossbars that hold the secondary mirror in place. So whenever you see crosses like that it's probably a newtonian telescope.

12-05-2019, 09:48 PM	#32
aitrus3 Pentaxian Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Kamloops B.C. Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,432	Originally posted by blues_hawk Thank you! The flares are actually caused by the crossbars that hold the secondary mirror in place. So whenever you see crosses like that it's probably a newtonian telescope. Yeah, I figured it was Newtonian. Only flares that look good on deep space photographs. Refractors don't produce them at all, and stopped down camera lenses can produce too many, not to mention make it quite a bit darker. Still a good job!

12-06-2019, 12:30 AM	#33
uday029 Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2014 Posts: 505	Just wooooow! Cant take my eyes of it.

12-06-2019, 10:18 PM	#34
blues_hawk Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2016 Location: Patrick Co. Virginia Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,534 Original Poster	Originally posted by aitrus3 Yeah, I figured it was Newtonian. Only flares that look good on deep space photographs. Refractors don't produce them at all, and stopped down camera lenses can produce too many, not to mention make it quite a bit darker. Still a good job! Correct and well noted.

12-06-2019, 10:33 PM	#35
blues_hawk Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2016 Location: Patrick Co. Virginia Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,534 Original Poster	Originally posted by uday029 Just wooooow! Cant take my eyes of it. Thank you! I've found myself doing that too. It takes a minute or two to find the little bits that make you go ..wow...that's a ...look at that! And thanks to all those early commenter's I may have missed. This photo represents years of rpg photography awesomeness, from DIY fails to frustration to testing for developers to trying new things and finally... holy crap look at that!

12-06-2019, 10:34 PM - 2 Likes	#36
blues_hawk Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2016 Location: Patrick Co. Virginia Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,534 Original Poster	I entered a landscape view of this one in the December contest in hopes of garnering more support for Pentax amateur AP efforts. Outreach for astronomy has become important to me in the last few years and just being able to showcase what is now possible with modest equipment has been very rewarding. I'll be happy to answer any questions as I find them. Cheers and clear skies!

01-10-2020, 03:37 AM - 1 Like	#37
Photogoof Pentaxian Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Prague Photos: Gallery Posts: 6,422	Originally posted by blues_hawk I seem to have proven once again that Space is indeed not black. M42 is also known as "The Great Orion Nebula" but I call it my nemesis. I'm very excited by this year's earliest effort and had to share it everywhere. After a long night battling my usual string of difficulties(balance, bad cable, pc lockup at 18sec remaining,focus, mount leg slipped, polar alignment etc.) I finally noticed that orion had passed above the 40+ degree mark needed to clear my trees about 2:00am. Having had a few decent guiding runs and a guiding indicator target full of sub 1arc second hits, I decided to stay up and give it a try. Glad I did. 15 minutes later I had this monster in the can. Pentax K5 exposure: 900 seconds @ iso100 Skywatcher EQ6r-pro mount guided by a converted finder scope+asi120s I used Opensource software Siril ,RAWTherapee, and GIMP to remove green, noise, color calibrate, stretch, asinh stretch and resize for web use. More about my move to using Super long exposure or "SLE" can be read at Smith River Photography Cheers! I love these space shots.