Exactly four years ago I took my first #astrophotography. Without star tracking, guiding, just a DSLR on a tripod, an old Russian lens, and a lot of very short exposures.
The photo shows the Orion constellation, the famous belt and the Orion Nebula below it. The first image is how I processed it then, the second one is processed recently, with new tools such as Graxpert and BlurExterminator.
#SkyWatch#Astrophotography The red hydrogen area is part of Barnard's Loop, a large arc of gas on the edge of the Orion constellation that is believed to have formed in a supernova explosion 2 million years ago. The blue area in the upper left is M78, a reflection nebula 1350 light years away that contains at least 45 variable stars visible in infrared. I captured 30 five-minute exposures with my 250mm lens for this image two weeks ago on a rare clear night.
@cathieleblanc
Very impressive H alpha contrast!
My five minute exposures would be underwhelming compared to this.
May I ask out of curiosity what camera and post processing software you used?
@cathieleblanc Well, I have to also switch to a dedicated astrocam soon for the H alpha sensitivity... just finished editing a 3h exposure of the horsehead nebula, but it still could improve so much.
@stfn@cathieleblanc You are absolutely right, but I currently like my Nikon Z50 like it is and don't want to risk damaging it. Besides the precise temperature controllability of cooled astrocams is very nice for calibration frame purposes.