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My Latest astrophoto attempt at Messier 42
February 19, 2012 at 9:51 am
I was finally able to get around to working on all the images I took on the 12th of the great nebula in Orion. The following image is a composite of images taken at intervals of 10 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute, and 2 minutes for a total exposure time of 50 minutes. The reason for the different exposure times is that the core of the nebula is exceedingly bright and tends to get washed out in long exposures, while the faint, wispy reflection nebulosity and the deep colors of the emission nebulosity require longer exposures. By combining and processing the exposures in a complex procedure, I managed to preserve most of the detail of the core (including the trapezium stars) while bringing out a lot of faint details in the extended portion of the nebula. It isn't perfect (the seeing was also poor but you take what you can get), but it is my best effort with this object to date:
Messier 42, in Orion
Taken at the Louisville Astronomical Society Observatory on 02/12/2012
'The difference between a Miracle and a Fact is exactly the difference between a mermaid and seal. It could not be expressed better.'
-- Samuel "Mark Twain" Clemens
"I think that in the discussion of natural problems we ought to begin not with the scriptures, but with experiments, demonstrations, and observations".
- Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
"In short, Meyer has shown that his first disastrous book was not a fluke: he is capable of going into any field in which he has no training or research experience and botching it just as badly as he did molecular biology. As I've written before, if you are a complete amateur and don't understand a subject, don't demonstrate the Dunning-Kruger effect by writing a book about it and proving your ignorance to everyone else! "
- Dr. Donald Prothero
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RE: My Latest astrophoto attempt at Messier 42
February 19, 2012 at 3:06 pm
Totally bitchin', babe.
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RE: My Latest astrophoto attempt at Messier 42
February 19, 2012 at 4:47 pm
Beautiful. Great work!
“You don't get to advertise all the good that your religion does without first scrupulously subtracting all the harm it does and considering seriously the question of whether some other religion, or no religion at all, does better. ”
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RE: My Latest astrophoto attempt at Messier 42
February 19, 2012 at 5:07 pm
Thanks, folks. By the way, I reworked it a bit, rotated it into the same position as the famous Hubble image, and cropped it. Enjoy:
![[Image: Messier42_02_12_2011g.jpg]](https://images.weserv.nl/?url=i132.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fq9%2Fjryates%2FMessier42_02_12_2011g.jpg)
Messier 42, In Orion
'The difference between a Miracle and a Fact is exactly the difference between a mermaid and seal. It could not be expressed better.'
-- Samuel "Mark Twain" Clemens
"I think that in the discussion of natural problems we ought to begin not with the scriptures, but with experiments, demonstrations, and observations".
- Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
"In short, Meyer has shown that his first disastrous book was not a fluke: he is capable of going into any field in which he has no training or research experience and botching it just as badly as he did molecular biology. As I've written before, if you are a complete amateur and don't understand a subject, don't demonstrate the Dunning-Kruger effect by writing a book about it and proving your ignorance to everyone else! "
- Dr. Donald Prothero
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RE: My Latest astrophoto attempt at Messier 42
February 20, 2012 at 1:05 am
Awesome!
God loves those who believe and those who do not and the same goes for me, you have no choice in this matter. That puts the matter of total free will to rest.
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RE: My Latest astrophoto attempt at Messier 42
February 20, 2012 at 1:20 am
Fascinating and beautiful! I am enchanted by the vision. THX
You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.
There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.
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RE: My Latest astrophoto attempt at Messier 42
February 20, 2012 at 1:46 am
Nice work. M42, while being one of the brightest and largest deep-sky objects, also happens to be quite challenging to image. Your results are quite impressive. I never developed the patience or skill to do quality astrophotography, but enjoy it vicariously through others.
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RE: My Latest astrophoto attempt at Messier 42
February 20, 2012 at 12:00 pm
Any object that has a high brightness range is difficult to image. The results are almost always a compromise. I am convinced that I can get a better result, but it might take a while before I post it. Stay tuned.
'The difference between a Miracle and a Fact is exactly the difference between a mermaid and seal. It could not be expressed better.'
-- Samuel "Mark Twain" Clemens
"I think that in the discussion of natural problems we ought to begin not with the scriptures, but with experiments, demonstrations, and observations".
- Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
"In short, Meyer has shown that his first disastrous book was not a fluke: he is capable of going into any field in which he has no training or research experience and botching it just as badly as he did molecular biology. As I've written before, if you are a complete amateur and don't understand a subject, don't demonstrate the Dunning-Kruger effect by writing a book about it and proving your ignorance to everyone else! "
- Dr. Donald Prothero
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Final one, I promise.
February 20, 2012 at 8:46 pm
Okay, folks, I promise, this is the final one for this object. I redid all the data and came out with a much better result. Not how much more pin point the stars are, and that they have actually more accurate star colors. Unfortunately, I am not all that thrilled with the other colors. But overall, it is a huge improvement over the previous one. Enjoy:
Messier 42, in Orion
'The difference between a Miracle and a Fact is exactly the difference between a mermaid and seal. It could not be expressed better.'
-- Samuel "Mark Twain" Clemens
"I think that in the discussion of natural problems we ought to begin not with the scriptures, but with experiments, demonstrations, and observations".
- Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
"In short, Meyer has shown that his first disastrous book was not a fluke: he is capable of going into any field in which he has no training or research experience and botching it just as badly as he did molecular biology. As I've written before, if you are a complete amateur and don't understand a subject, don't demonstrate the Dunning-Kruger effect by writing a book about it and proving your ignorance to everyone else! "
- Dr. Donald Prothero
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RE: My Latest astrophoto attempt at Messier 42
February 20, 2012 at 9:05 pm
Absolutely beautiful! Thank you for sharing that.
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![[Image: Messier42_02_12_2011b.jpg]](https://images.weserv.nl/?url=i132.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fq9%2Fjryates%2FMessier42_02_12_2011b.jpg)
![[Image: M42_composite_cropped.jpg]](https://images.weserv.nl/?url=i132.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fq9%2Fjryates%2FM42_composite_cropped.jpg)
