It doesn't look much

but I've only gone and captured The Orion Nebula (Messier 42)!

The only tweaking was to apply a de-noise filter on the computer as it was shot at 3200 ISO so was grainy. No other adjustments were made which is why I am so chuffed - to have captured some of the colour of the gas cloud is just so cool,

Took ages to set the scope up due to user error (ID.10.T) but once the user figured the error out, all was well. Soon had the scope trained on the Orion nebula and tinkered around with camera, with a specific filter to capture some of the colour.

It isn't brilliant, as I have yet to get to grips with getting my images pin sharp. However, I have now got the knack of aligning, getting the scope to remain centred on an object and tracking automatically, so with some clear nights, I hope that I will get even more images. The trick of it will be using my laptop and a specific type of webcam (CCD imaging camera) which will pick up more detail and will enable me to get sharper focus as I will view on the laptop rather than through viewfinder on the camera and therefore causing shake on the scope.

None-the-less, I am pleased as punch that after twelve months of intermittent and sometimes frustrating attempts, I have managed to capture something other than a detailed moon.

The central cluster is known as the trapezium. It is surrounded by a hydrogen cloud which bullets of gas shoot through. It is 1,350 light years from earth and is considered to be the nursery for over 2000 stars. There is also a much more vast nebula which actually contains the constellation of orion.

Astronomy geek is going for a celebratory glass of wine.

Night night
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