Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

I've had a couple of clear nights lately, so I took advantage of it and shot some images of M42 (the Orion Nebula). The first image was made by combining shots using Luminance, Red, Green and Blue filters. The second shot was made using Narrow band (5 nanometer) filters, including Hydrogen Alpha (Ha), Oxygen III (O3) and Sulphur II (S2). The Narrow band image used what is known as the Hubble Pallet where Ha is assigned to the Green Channel, O3 is assigned to the Blue Channel and S2 is assigned to the Red Channel. This makes for a more scientifically useful image but not what our eyes would see. It also makes the star colors look a bit funcky, so I subtracted out the stars from the image and added in a copy of the stars from the standard LRGB image. All images were taken with a cooled mono-camera and a canon 500mm F4.0 lens, that was guided with a separate guide scope. Due to the large dynamic range of M42 the images were processed using HDR techniques to prevent blowing out the center of the nebula but still allow the dim regions outside the main nebula to be seen (The narrow band image really helps bring out the dimmer areas). The HDR also brings out a lot of detail in the structure of the nebula that is visible in the double download of both images. All questions comments and suggestions are welcome.

LRGB image of M42

(Download)

Narrow Band image of M42

(Download)

ELNikkor

Beautiful astro-photos! (until I saw them, I thought "M42" would be about screw-mount lenses!)

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

Hi ELNikkor
Thanks for checking out the images of M42 and for the comment. M42 in this case stands for Messier Object 42, which is the Orion nebula. The brightest part of this nebula and associated stars are seen with the naked eye as the center star in Orion's sword. At 500mm these images include the entire sword and then some.

J-SPEIGHT Loc: Akron, Ohio

Stunning images

nimbushopper Loc: Tampa, FL

LVP Loc: Seekonk, MA

So did I.
Learn something new everyday!

Irvingite Charles Loc: Irving, Tx

Lastcastmike

Just amazing. Thank you for sharing.

alberio Loc: Casa Grande AZ

Wow, lots of extraneous dust surrounding the nebulae. Nice detail in the core.

Earnest Botello Loc: Hockley, Texas

Excellent set, Ballard.

Tdearing Loc: Rockport, TX

Amazing work again.

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

Hi J-SPEIGHT
Thanks for the comment and for checking out the images of M42.

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

Hi nibushopper
Thanks for viewing the images of M42 and for the Thumbs up.

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

Hi LVP
Thanks for viewing the images of M42. It is always good to learn something new.

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

Hi Irvingite Charles
Thanks for viewing the shots of M42 and for the Thumbs up.