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The Orion Nebula

I'm gearing up for a great season of astrophotography in the clear, dry, cold, high altitude skies of the Eastern Sierra region of California and Nevada.  This is one of my first shots take with my new setup.  It's the Orion Nebula (also known as Messier 42, M42, or NGC 1976) below Orion's belt.

There are ways I can improve these images, but for a first try on a night with ample light pollution from the moon, I'm very encouraged by the initial results. #astrophotography   #astronomy   #science  

I’m gearing up for a great season of astrophotography in the clear, dry, cold, high altitude skies of the Eastern Sierra. This is one of my first shots take with my new setup. It’s the Orion Nebula (also known as Messier 42, M42, or NGC 1976) below Orion’s belt.

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28 thoughts on “The Orion Nebula”

  1. Not bad for a first shot. Might want to check the collimation of the scope however. Looks like you have a bit of a coma problem or maybe pinched optics. All the stars "V" out in the same direction.

  2.  I'll probably write a blog post eventually on the setup +Stephen Kennedy, unfortunately I'm a little rushed/busy at the moment trying to get out the door to Yosemite then Death Valley, possibly Sequoia National Monument. I prefer to discuss products after I've had a chance to use them.  There are always pros and cons and I wouldn't want someone to buy a product thinking I was recommending it, if I hadn't fully put it through its paces.  (There are far too many people online acting as shills for brands or products, I'm not one of them.)

  3. I noticed that +Tom Nathe.  For this first test I used a 300mm lens that gave me f/5.8 and it was on a Canon 70D, so it was shooting like 480mm.  But it was an inexpensive lens, costing only about $275 after rebate when purchased with the camera.  In a few more nights I should have a lot more data points… trying L Series lenses and Canon full frame sensors with better High ISO response.  I wanted to start with the lightest setup as a baseline.  The moon will become an increasing issue over the next week, so it may be a couple of weeks before I get to use various lens/body configuration combinations under more ideal conditions, and figure out what works best.  I hear that there are lenses with coatings which reduce the coma issue, and hopefully some of Canon's L Series glass that I already own will fall into that category. 
    (cc: +John Getchel – 70D/300mm)

  4. Will do +Tom Nathe, had a lot of trade-offs to juggle with ISO 6400 vs. f/5.6 vs. 10 to 30 second exposure.  Perhaps better glass will help, but I'll run through other adjustment changes as well.  Last night I was mainly varying exposure time and ISO to see how the 70D sensor responded.  I'll try a full frame sensor body next, then a variety of lenses/apertures.

  5. I must admit +Sagnik Sarkar that I was pleasantly surprised at how well it turned out for a first attempt at shooting a nebula.  I had no idea that the Orion Nebula appeared so big (to a DSLR).  I can't wait to see how my other camera bodies and lenses can do.

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