Orion Nebula (M42) and Running Man Nebula (NGC 1973/5/7)

A partially successful experiment to try and get a good focal length to capture both nebulae in one shot without forking out for another scope. The 127 Mak, with its 1500mm focal length, can't fit both nebulae in the frame, and using a 300mm or 400mm lens makes the objects too small. So for this shot the guidescope was used as a telescope and the telescope as a guidescope. The Orion Mini Guidescope was used with a x2 Barlow and attached to the DSLR which was piggybacked on the telescope. The guide camera was put on the 127 Mak in a not very successful attempt to guide the DSLR (1500mm combined with a tiny sensor makes finding guide stars in the frame almost impossible). The resulting focal length is about 800mm at an agonising f16. It sort of worked but because M42 is so much brighter than NGC 1973/5/7 it gets a bit overexposed while NGC 1973/5/7 still needs much more exposure. I used a little exposure blending to bring out a little more of the Running Man Nebula. I'm glad this much came out but to do it properly a wider field scope is needed as the optics on the Mini Guidescope are ok for guiding but not much else. Blending two exposures might also help. Still, it was a fun experiment.

 

40 x 30 second exposures at 800mm f16 - 400 ISO (20 minutes)

22 x dark frames

9 x flat frames

21 x bias/offset frames (subtracted from flat frames only)

 

Captured with APT

Guided with PHD2

Processed in Nebulosity and Photoshop

 

Equipment:

Skywatcher EQ5 Mount

Orion 50mm Mini Guide Scope

ZWO ASI120 MC imaging and guiding camera

Canon 700D DSLR

Done