Second session imaging M42, the Great Orion Nebula, from my backyard using a budget astrophotography setup.

Acquisition details: EOS T6 + kit telephoto lens at 300mm + MSM star tracker. 105 minute integration time of 30 second subs at ISO 200. 15 darks, 60 biases, 15 flats. Second session was focused with Bahtinov mask this time. The weather was identical to the first session the night before so I reused the calibration frames from that night.



Processing: processed in AstroPixelProcessor, including star reduction.



I tripled the exposing time, as suggested. Focused using the mask and tried to get the diffraction spike right in the middle. During processing, I didn't zero out the background aggressively like I did previously and let the dust shine through a bit, which was easier since the increased exposure made it easier to see what was noise and what wasn't. I also decided not to stop down to avoid focusing problems.



There wasn't as big of a difference in the details as I was expecting with triple the exposure time. The dust came out more, the Running Man nebula looks more defined, and the colors are way more true to life.