M42 - The Orion Nebula

20:07 14/2/2006 UTC

Finally a clear weather again! Full moon was up in the sky, so I decided to try UHC-S filter to M42. UHC really reduced glow caused by moon allowing me to expose up to 5 minutes at ISO400. The glow caused by moon is more on the blue part of the spectrum, so I lost some SNR from OIII regions. Ha signal was so good I boosted it a little more to give the nebula more natural look. I had hard time with hot pixels this time. I need to learn IRIS and its COSME function better.

NGC/IC Object List:
NGC1976 gaseous nebula RA:05h35m17.1 Dec:-05°23m'25" BMag: 4.0, M 42 Orion Nebula
NGC1982 gaseous nebula RA:05h35m31.3 Dec:-05°16m'03" BMag: 9.0, M 43
NGC1977 open cluster RA:05h35m18.0 Dec:-04°49m'00" BMag: , OCL 525

Camera: Canon EOS 350D (Rebel XT) | Telescope: William Optics Zenithstar 66mm f6 petzval refractor | Mount: Orion Skyview Pro, Boxdoerfer PowerFlex MTS-3SLP drive controller | Filters: Baader UHC-S 2" | Guiding: Orion ShortTube 80mm f5 refractor, QCGuider, Phillips ToUCam Pro II webcam | Exposure: 11 x 300s + 10 x 45s (55m+7m30s) f6 ISO400, 8 darks, 8 flats | Software: IRIS, GIMP | Location: 60°31'N 26°52'E (Koivula/Kotka,FI) | Seeing: III | Transparency: 5 | Image Field: 2.032 x 1.523 degrees | Image Center: Ra 05h35m12s Dec -05°24'32" | Target altitude in the beginning of the exposure 20°