Sam has been itching for ages to get out and do some deep space imaging and he’s finally had chance with the Star Adventurer and his new (for him) stock Canon 500D he had for Christmas. Using the 55-250mm F/4-F/5.6 lens at the full 250mm, ISO 800 with 30 sec subs, he’s on perhaps the most stunning of DSO’s – Messier 42, the Great Nebula in the constellation Orion.
Even in his class 5 skies this object is one of the brightest in the night sky, and is easily naked-eye visible.
Just prior to this session Millie was grabbing some more data on the Pleiades and California Nebula duo. Unfortunately when I swapped the cameras over I must have knocked the tracking slightly. Although Millie was getting 2 minute subs at 55mm, Sam was just about managing 30 seconds at the 250mm. That may work out in his favour though as it’s quite difficult to grab M42 without blowing the Trapezium at the core, so shorter exposures are recommended in order to mitigate that. I’ll be interested to see how that’s gone given that he’s only gotten around 20 mins worth of data on it.
Several weeks later….
Even though this is only 20 minutes, I’m very proud of Sam as he has captured and processed this himself. It shows what can be achieved with very modest equipment. It may not be the best in the world, but for me it shows great promise and is a worthy effort in anyone’s book!
Thank you for taking the time to read and clear skies all.
AstroHeart UK Photography 