Orion

[GMPhotography]

Here is an image I did of Orion back in Janurary.
I've been playing with different editing methods and so far I like this process:

1. Stacking & Stretching done initally in a trial of PixInsight. (in this case, 89 -30s exposures)
2. Export a 32bit tiff & import into AP

3. Use AP to do some more levels, vibrance, selective noise reduction, defringing, and I also use blend ranges to blend one of the source images with the stacked image to save some of the highlight data in the centre. (AP is brilliant with this BTW! Blend ranges, seriously the best function ever. Some refer to the function, confusingly, as Blend options, my version calls it Blend Ranges)

4. Export a 16bit Tiff and import into LR for some final small adjustments.

5. Final export to whatever file type/size needed for sharing/printing/viewing.

 

Orion by Greg Murray, on Flickr

[jer]

"Here is an image I did of Orion back in Janurary...."

 

Do you mean you captured this image in your camera? Like your camera attached to a telescope? It is possible to see Orion but I wasn't aware you could see the colorful nebula clouds too without a telescope. This is an impressive and wonderfully adjusted image. Well done!

[GMPhotography]

Just my camera with a cheap 300mm lens. There is a misconception out there that every object in space is small and needs a telescope to see. The truth is, that the apparent size (that is, the size the object appears to take up in our sky) of many objects is actually quite large. The only reason you can't see them with the naked eye in their full glory is because they are so dim. Case in point: the full moon is about 1/2 and arc minute or 30 arc seconds. But if Orion were as bright as the moon, it would appear to be about 3 times bigger than the full moon. That's small. The galaxy andromeda would appear to be 6 times bigger than the full moon, if it were as bright, and the biggest I know of is the Carinae Nebula. Which is about 3 by 4 arc minutes (I think). Massive in comparison to the full moon, but oh so much dimmer. You need a lot of long exposures to reveal the detail that is hiding in the darkness. And this is why it is difficult to see with the naked eye. Telescopes work because they gather a large amount of light (some being 11-15" in diameter. Compare that to your eye, which is maybe 1/2 an inch) and then they magnify and condense that light into a much smaller space, so objects appear brighter and thus visible.

You may have seen that post floating around on social media "If Andromeda were brighter, this is how it would appear to the naked eye." That is most certainly 100% true. Many people were scoffing at it, and while you can see Andromeda with the naked eye, you only ever see it's bright core region. It's spiral arms only become visible after many long exposures are combined.

This is the main reason I like taking these kinds of photographs, to educate folks on the reality that is out there. :)

[GMPhotography]

Oh. I should mention that this is the Orion Nebula. Located and visible as the three stars situated below and to the left of Orion's Belt. The constellation isn't actually visible here, as the field of view is too narrow.