Here is one of my 1st tries at the Orion Nebula. I hoping once I've done the Galactic Hunter course I'll have improved considerably! I struggle a bit with an AltAz mount so my exposures are limited to about 10 secs max to avoid start trails and I'm not very confident with the post-processing yet, but I hoping the course will help! Even with my current 'novice' status, I was quite pleased with this shot. Looking forward to see how much I can improve on this once I've learned a bit more on the course!
6" SCT on an AltAz mount
Canon EOS 5D MkIII
0.63 focal reducer.
300 lights, 50 darks, 50 bias. DSS for stacking and processed with GIMP.
That is a beautiful image for a first attempt!
Thank you for sharing your first attempt at M42 Steve! That’s really good for an alt az mount. With an EQ mount you’ll definitely get rounder stars, sharper details and most importantly much more faint gas all around the nebula thanks to the longer exposures! Can’t wait to see your progress!