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.

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)