I've been wanting to get some pictures of the orion nebula and tonight I guess I'll try. I know where the nebula is located now and I'll look through the viewfinder of my D200 and find Orion. I'll focus to infinity and use F2.8 at whatever aperture gets the area below the orion belt.

Only thing is, I don't know how I'd do this. I'd say if I use 10 second exposure at 24mm to maybe 40mm, there would be no star trails.

If I started the shutter again, the stars would have moved, but not far enough to move out of wide area of the sky that 24mm fits in.

My question is, will 10 seconds and possibly 50 frames all in the same area work with registax? They wont be perfectly aligned, but I think that's what Registax does? It takes them and aligns them on top of each other and that brings out more light and sharpness?

I don't have anything to guide the camera, so I'm out of luck there.

__________________
Nikon D200
Nikon D50
Nikon 300mm F4D ED-IF AF-S
Nikon 50mm F1.8
Sigma 70-200mm F2.8EX DG Macro
Sigma 24-70mm F2.8EX DG Macro

Hi Ingo,

You can also try to use Photoshop , CCDsoft, Or Maxim DL, or CCDstack to align and stack your images as well. There are many out there now to do this.

If you do not own any of these programs, then you should do a search for some freeware versions, like "Gimp", to handle your image processing needs.

You can try your stated approach,
But, do to Earth's natural rotation and not getting long enough exposures, you will be very limited with your results.

For really excellent results, you should purchase some type of tracking mount, this will allow a long enough exposure time to record the fainter nebulas in Orion as well with some decent details.

I have a rather inexpensive portable automatic tracking mount with motor and hand control paddle (~$100.00) from OrionTelescopes.com. The EQ-1 works well with cameras and telephotos up to 100mm. I've gotten good results up to 5 minutes unguided, with this portable camera tracker. It runs off a 9volt batter or 4 D cells depending on which motor you go with.

Or maybe you can make a camera tracking mount yourself, do a search on google for "Barndoor Tracking mounts", they are simple to make, with easy to find stuff at a local hardware store, and if made properly work very well.

Have Fun & Good Luck,

__________________
Best Regards,
John Chumack
The Chumack Observatories
MPC 838 Dayton Research Station
MPC H66 Yellow Springs Research Station
www.galacticimages.com

Here is a 5 minute shot of Orion, using the EQ-1 Mount I mentioned in the previous post. 20mm to 35mm zoom lens for this shot and a 10D DSLR.

Its very accurate, when you polar align accurately. This is 5 minute unguided, and its very portable, I carry it in a small tool case in my car, its great for quick wide angle shots.

It's the most inexpensive, portable, accurate tracking mount, I've ever own.

Take Care,

Attached Images

minitrackingmount_Chumack.jpg (145.5 KB, 29 views)

__________________
Best Regards,
John Chumack
The Chumack Observatories
MPC 838 Dayton Research Station
MPC H66 Yellow Springs Research Station
www.galacticimages.com

Thanks for the reply

Unfortunately I am not good with electronics or things like that so I would be unable to make my own

Tonight, I will try it on my tripod and maybe move it a fraction of nothing every time I take a picture.



Also I could just look in the viewfinder and align the stars every time I take a picture with a focus point. Any 9 of them :P

__________________
Nikon D200
Nikon D50
Nikon 300mm F4D ED-IF AF-S
Nikon 50mm F1.8
Sigma 70-200mm F2.8EX DG Macro
Sigma 24-70mm F2.8EX DG Macro

This is all I got tonight. No nebula

I think there's too much light pollution?

I took 30 pictures but I can't find out how to work registax

I just took 5 frames and changed opacity to 95 on the ones besides the background and lined them up, changed some things.

__________________
Nikon D200
Nikon D50
Nikon 300mm F4D ED-IF AF-S
Nikon 50mm F1.8
Sigma 70-200mm F2.8EX DG Macro
Sigma 24-70mm F2.8EX DG Macro

Hi Ingo.

There are online registax tutorials. If you Would like some help using registax. e-mail me at iamzoup@yahoo.com I would be more then glad to help you. later Paul

Ingo,

its a starts, The orion nebula can be seen through moderate light pollution, because this object is very bright.

and by the way,
you did capture the Nebula in Orion, I put an arrow and text on your pic to point it out.
M42&M43 The Great Orion Nebula!

So its a good start! Congrats!

Attached Images

starsar6_text.jpg (123.1 KB, 20 views)

__________________
Best Regards,
John Chumack
The Chumack Observatories
MPC 838 Dayton Research Station
MPC H66 Yellow Springs Research Station
www.galacticimages.com

I thought that was something, but It just looked like a star to me! Hehe.

If I knew how to use registax I could probably layer all 20 pictures and get a sharper image of it

__________________
Nikon D200
Nikon D50
Nikon 300mm F4D ED-IF AF-S
Nikon 50mm F1.8
Sigma 70-200mm F2.8EX DG Macro
Sigma 24-70mm F2.8EX DG Macro

Hey Ken

Here is your photo with just alittle work in photoshop and photofilter. Nice image.

Attached Images

starsar6.jpg (89.1 KB, 15 views)

I took another one a few minutes ago...it looks cool and It looks like I got 3 nebular . I think. One looks like it has rings around it.

__________________
Nikon D200
Nikon D50
Nikon 300mm F4D ED-IF AF-S
Nikon 50mm F1.8
Sigma 70-200mm F2.8EX DG Macro
Sigma 24-70mm F2.8EX DG Macro