M42 from Pier 3

M42 is always a show stopper....this is no exception....Just beautiful Simon

Wow - nice!

Nice!

Kind of halo around the stars. Fog? or the filter's problem

I am not really sure what you are seeing so I cannot help. All I can say is that the stars are very bright in this area and it may be something to do with that. Thanks, have a good day. Simon

Hello Shane1999,
No this is not a filter problem. This is from a batch of early test data we took. Some of which was taken in less than ideal conditions . 
As Simon is an earlybird customer he has had access to some of the test data while we were finalising setup.  
hope this explains a little. 
Best regards 
Peter

Thanks a lot Peter and Simon. The image is amazing anyway and I've booked 4 hours of Pier 3.  ：）

Thank you Shane 1999 for your kind words and I really do hope that the data works out well for you. I am very confident you will not be disappointed. Simon

Hi Simon, 

Way, way better and balanced image than I've  so far managed. Also it's really useful seeing this in anticipation of the lousy, dark and cold winter nights that no doubt will soon be upon us! At least one thing to look forward to. Speaking as a resident of the UK that is. 

As we know it's a tricky object to get right unless you capture a range of exposure times and can perform a very good blending of them. Again not something I've seriously attempted previously. So I'm wondering how you went about processing it if you only had one set of identical exposures. Also from what Peter added about the less than ideal conditions, makes it even more impressive. 
P
When you've some free time I'd really appreciate some of your tips on how you did it with one set, or, if HDR in pixinsight was used. 

Cheers and thanks, 
Ray 

Thanks Ray for your kindness, and I will only be too glad to help out if I can... but not today! I am too busy really. It might be best to ask me specific things as you go along, but I assure you I am not really that great with Pixinsight. I know what I know, but some of the technical stuff people do, is beyond me, and/or I have not got the time or patience to try and learn it! As far as your question here is concerned, I did not have any other subs for the HDR side of things, I merely used the early bird material. I have no set rule with the core etc, but what I tend to do is early on in the processing before I stretch it too far, I use HDR multiscale transform, normally as is, and let that bring down the brightness in the trapezium, I also use Local Equalisation histogram there too, if needs be, and if it is not working, I use a heavy mask for that region and try the HDR or LHE then. Sometimes I also use a tweak of lowering the brightest brightness in that area, using Curves. I found this image a lot easier in the core area than I thought, but that is how it sometimes goes. All the best Ray - keep up the great work. Hear from you sometime. Simon

Hello Simon, 

Really appreciate your replying so quickly, you didn't need to. Your reply has answered all my questions, thanks.

Those processes you used to see if they gave the improvement you were after, and at what stage you used them is most useful. That sort of thing you do not find very often in the youtube videos, certainly those I have been watching. Far better experimenting with something relevant to what you want to achieve, than randomly picking a few  processes that sound like they might be what you are looking for. 

Cheers and best regards, 

Ray 

Alas.. every Astronomers weak point - M42

Stunning image, very nicely done!