Yes it's another M42,But

[Ron]

I've been trying out a demo version of MaxDSLR, mainly to rotate and stack some of my previous images from my Canon 350D and Alt/Az scope.  The program does a super job of rotating and stacking the images but my final images seem washed out.  I don't know if it is the camera or program but the images come out pale, or rather lacking in color.

This image is a stack of 21 twenty second images taken in Alt/Az and seems to have less color than some previous images I have taken with a stack of only 4 or 8 images or equal to about 3 minutes of exposure.



This is a stack of 2 image, 63 sec.& 65sec. at Iso 800, Canon 300D, scope on a wedge


I know it takes a lot of frames to make a worth while image but I'm trying to figure out why twice as many images from my Canon doesn't have as much color depth as my old Nikon CP995.

Thanks,

Ron

[ben therrell]

  !!!
          .....But it's a different slant on the processes at work here.  The resolution around theta Ori is very good.  That's the least of it's virtues.  When I lean back from the monitor I see that the trapezium is enveloped
by a nice round bubble of plasma (?) and that the cooler gasses around the bubble appear to be radiated away
from that hot cluster that's emerging.

     I lean back from the monitor and ask myself, "Now where have I seen a similar situation?  O yeah,
NGC 2244 is doing the same thing to the Rosette Nebula."  Not only that; this data seems to furnish a perspective on the dark bolt of nebulosity extending toward the Trapezium and is dotted with little "hot spots"
of young stars trying to emerge from the cloud.  This dark cloud now appears as a foreground object.

     This is really good data and should be followed by a visit to the Rosette, then mabye to 7243 Lacerta for a for the mature stage in the cluster operation.

     I don't want to go into a rant here but I think that a new processing setup is going to weight your signals in uniquely different ways.  To top that off, this is an enormously complicated object.  (Nice to visit but I wouldn't want to live there.)  I suggest evaluating this new system by comparing - contrasting with other regions.  Ever scoped out the nebula aroung lamba/phi Ori.  It's a cluster (Collinder 69) and a large nebula
(Sharpless 2-264) which can be picked up on a clear night in my Newt.

GOOD WORK,
Ben

[twilbur]

Holy Cow Ron!!!

Nice job! That's great for just 7 minutes total exposure time!
If you're sticking with the Alt-Az setup individual exposure times will continue to be limited so keeping to very bright objects is the way to go. You could certainly spend more total exposure time on this area, get yourself up into the 70 minute range to reduce noise and increase depth.

[Ron]

Ben & Ted,

Thanks for your replies.

I've added another picture for comparison.  Even though the second image has the trapezium area blown out, there seems to be more information in the image with only 2 minutes of exposure compared with  the image of 7 minutes of exposure

I meant to add this to the image information; the first image was ISO 1600 canon 400xti,  and the second image was shot at ISO 800 canon 300D

Ron

[ben therrell]

RON & TED,
     (1) What's ISO mean?

     (2) Why would Alt-Az configuration limit exposure times?

     (3) The only thing I can see that's really washed- out is the red tint around 600 nanometers.  Will additional exposure enhance this tint?

RSVP,
Ben

[Ron]

RON & TED,
     (1) What's ISO mean?

     (2) Why would Alt-Az configuration limit exposure times?

     (3) The only thing I can see that's really washed- out is the red tint around 600 nanometers.  Will additional exposure enhance this tint?

RSVP,
Ben

Ben,

I think one of my biggest problems here, is; I'm not comparing apples to apples.  The image shot with the Canon 300D was a 6 mega pixel, and the image shot with the Canon 350xt was a 8 mega pixel.  Now I have a 10 mega pixel to throw into the mix

So the bottom line is, I shouldn't even try to compare images since they aren't all apples


ISO, I probably should look this up before I try to explain what it is   Someone should probably come in here and help me out   As far as I know, ISO is sensitivity, the higher the number the more sensitive.  It comes at a price though, graininess(noise).

In Alt/Az, rotation becomes a problem as stars rotate.  Some people can go up to 30 seconds before rotation becomes a problem.  I haven't done any fine tuning to my scope so I am limited to about 20 seconds depending on where I'm pointed in the sky.

Additional exposures, and or length of exposure is supposed to gather more total information in the image.

This all becomes pretty complicated to me since I'm pretty brain dead when it comes to Astrophotography and I can't remember what I do from one step to the next

But I keep plundering along hoping I can accidentally come up with something

Here is another version of the last image,  I added some red color, maybe too much



If I keep the image small enough, and you hold your LCD monitor at the right angle like tilting a digital camera's LCD to get the best view, it might not look too bad


Ron

[lindendave]

There is a pretty good explanation of ISO settings at CameraTown.

http://www.cameratown.com/guides/iso.cfm

[ben therrell]

Gentlemen,

     Most astute explanations!  Thanks for the link, Dave.

     There is a hint of field rotation on the lower right but it's of little matter.  It seems to me that the closer you get to the celestial equator the more rotation you will have in alt-az.  For that matter you will have it an equatorial mount as well.  Here you are about 5 degrees S of it.

     The red enhancement seems to separate the gas (Hydrogen) from the dust (all sorts of stuff) more readily.  It seems to
define the areas more sharply.  I do pretty much the same thing playing around with ALADIN images I call up.

     Apples to apples mabye, but there's no telling what you may find out by experimenting with data like this.

     I like all of them and this is good work.  It seems like this particular object involves one with a constant trade - off between color depth and perspective.  However the last one gives the best of both.

6 mag skies
Ben

[Ron]

It's a very interesting object to say the least

I've seen many variations of M42, each one intriguing in different ways from color to detail.  It has probably been photographed more than any other DSO, because it is an easy object to see.

I have always been partial to the orange-ish color, perhaps because that was the color of the first M42 that I really looked at with any interest.

Thanks for the encouragement,

Ron

[ben therrell]

RON,

    I've always been partial to the red- orange tints myself probably because that's where ionized Hydrogen
registers on film plates.  It gives it a "classic" look.

    I've also noticed that the dark material seems to be "folded back" away from the trapezium region which
gives the impression of a bowl shaped configuration much like a flower opening.  The radiation effects here
ought to be isotropic ( i.e. moving equally in all directions) as we see in the Rosette Nebula.  But the expansion
seems retarded in the direction of M 43 (northeast).

    So what's going on here?  Its going to take a lot of photos and analysis to figure this one out.

    The same effects seem to be at work in M43 with the darker material being piled up on the East side.

Keep up the good work,
Ben

[Ron]

I thought this was rather interesting



The "E" star shows up in only a 10 second exposure.  "F" was  trying to get in there but didn't quite make it

Ron

[ben therrell]

RON,

     Fine resolution here!  And "F" made it into the frame pretty well.
 
  Tell us about your technique here - time, magnification, length of exposure....

Ben

[Ron]

Ben,

This is the original raw image, I only cropped and flipped the orientation.  The image is a 10 second, ISO 800, prime focus, exposure



Higher Res http://www.fototime.com/8CD67886D5E2F96/orig.jpg

Taken with the Canon 350xt

Ron

[ben therrell]

RON,

     Very interesting.  I can't detect even a hint of the "E" star in the raw image.  Works just like analog
telescopin' - the more magnification the more stars pop out.

     I can see why you seem to favor that Canon system.  D they still make that Model?

Ben

[Ron]

Ben,

Yes they still have the Canon 350xt and the prices have really droped since the new 400xti came out

Ron