M42 Orion & Running Man Nebulae - Redcat51 1st Light

CCD vs Film? Lots of time vs no patience? Alright, this is your place to discuss all the astrophotography what's and what's not. You can discuss about techniques, accessories, cameras, whatever....just make sure you also post some nice photos here too!
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celeron787
Posts: 113
Joined: Sun Jan 12, 2020 2:30 pm

M42 Orion & Running Man Nebulae - Redcat51 1st Light

Post by celeron787 »

First light for my Redcat 51. Was not a planned imaging session, I just wanted test how well the Star Adventurer can handle the Redcat, test drift align using DARV and test out 30sec subs. Things went quite well and skies remained clear, so I pointed the scope towards Orion and began snapping away.

http://nova.astrometry.net/annotated_full/4880865

Sony A6000
William Optics RedCat 51 Petzval APO
Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer
Tripod

Bortle 8
ISO400
Light frames - 119 x 30secs (manually dithered in RA and DEC)
Dark Frames - 30 x 30secs
Flat Frames - 35
Bias Frames - 50

Deep Sky Stacker
StarTools - Autodev, Crop, Wipe, Super Structure, Color, Contrast, HDR
Lightroom - Exposure, Vibrance, Highlights

Image
hhzhang
Posts: 730
Joined: Sun May 10, 2020 4:11 pm
Favourite scope: 115mm APO

Re: M42 Orion & Running Man Nebulae - Redcat51 1st Light

Post by hhzhang »

I can see details in highlight regions are well kept/rendered. I can see sharp and round stars from corner to corner. I can sense a lot of hard work behind a single picture. Congrats!

On the M42 field itself. I still like this type of works more than those with many and many hours of total exposure just to exaggerate complex dust lanes and gas clouds all over the place.
celeron787
Posts: 113
Joined: Sun Jan 12, 2020 2:30 pm

Re: M42 Orion & Running Man Nebulae - Redcat51 1st Light

Post by celeron787 »

hhzhang wrote: Fri Jan 22, 2021 12:22 pm I can see details in highlight regions are well kept/rendered. I can see sharp and round stars from corner to corner. I can sense a lot of hard work behind a single picture. Congrats!

On the M42 field itself. I still like this type of works more than those with many and many hours of total exposure just to exaggerate complex dust lanes and gas clouds all over the place.
Thanks for the kind words! This is the most I can pull out due to lack of integration time, I'm thinking whether to add more time on this object or try imaging something else.
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