Tag: Horsehead Nebula

Orion & Horsehead Nebulae – SHO Palette

I decided to go back and rework some of my data from March and see what I could come up with. After reprocessing my Rosette & Cone wide field image in a simulated SHO palette, I decided to try and do the Orion and Horsehead wide field shot.

I did the stacking, channel combining and initial processing in Astro Pixel Processor then took the image over to Photoshop. I had to do it separately for the longer exposure and then the shorter exposure to create two separate images to use to try and combine them to soften the blown out core a bit. I believe my long exposures where simply too long to be real effective, but I was able to soften it a bit. I needed the longer exposure to pull out the detail in the Horsehead and Flame Nebulae, so I will need to research a bit more if I try this again in the future. I am thinking I may need to take three different data sets at different exposures and combine them over two. For reference, I have been using AstroBackyard’s Tutorial on HDR Composites. As always, Trevor Jones provides a lot of good information!

Image Information:

120 x 60s
60 x 10s
Darks, flats, dark flats and biases for both sets
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TPO Ultrawide 180 Astrophotography Lens
Canon EOS Ra
Optolong L-eNhanced Filter
ZWO 30mm f4 MiniScope (guide)
ZWO asi 224mc (guide)

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The Orion & Horsehead Nebulae

Ever since I began doing astrophotography, both the Orion Nebula and the Horsehead Nebula were always high interest targets for me. Up until last October, once I got a mount that could track and a telescope with a focal length capable of taking images of these two targets, I had to settle for views through an eyepiece or trying to take a lot of short exposures at really wide focal lengths to try and get an image. Even once I got a mount and a good telescope, I was still restricted in getting one target at a time. I kept seeing people post pictures with both in the field of view, but due to the limitations of my set up, I was unable to do the same… until now!

Thanks to the TPO UltraWide 180 f/4.5 Astrophotography Lens & Guide Scope I was able to get both targets, and more, into the same frame!

TPO UltraWide 180 f/4.5 Astrophotography Lens & Guide Scope
Canon EOS Ra
Sky Watcher EQ6-R Pro
Optolong L-eNhanced filter
ZWO 30mm f4 MiniScope (guide)
ZWO ASI224mc (guide)

Do to how my setup is currently with this scope, it is impossible for me to rotate the camera to frame the shot differently, but luckily the framing was good to go how it was! I will be writing a post soon going over how I have it set up with my current gear.

26 x 300s
20 dark frames
60 flat frames
50 dark flat frames
50 bias frames
800 ISO – Bortle 8

Captured in APT with guiding done with PHD2. Stacked in DSS and processed in Photoshop

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Horsehead & Flame Nebula

  • Horsehead & Flame – 1-8-2021
  • Horsehead & Flame – Starless

My first attempt at doing 5 minute exposures, for the most part, did not go too well. I think mainly because of transparency issues. I had ran 4 minute long exposures the night before and they came out great. Those posts will be up as soon as I get the data totals on target that I want. However, my data on the Horsehead Nebula, in my mind, came out alright!

Equipment & Statistics

Meade Series 6000 80mm Triplet APO
Sky Watcher EQ6-R Pro
Canon EOS Ra
Astro-Tech 0.8 Reducer/Flattener
Optolong L-eNhanced
ZWO 30mm f4 MiniScope (Guide)
ZWO ASI224mc (Guide)
PHD2 for guiding, APT for capturing, APP for stacking/processing, Photoshop/Topaz for final processing

31 x 300s
20 Dark Frames
50 Flat Frames
50 Dark Flat Frames
50 Bias Frames

The two images at the top are my final edit / process. The ones here above are my first. I am including them because in someways they may be better plus I really like how the negative image looks.

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