Stacking 50 photos of Orion vs one 30 second shot surprised me

I used to just take a single long exposure of Nebula and call it good. Then I spent 2 hours stacking 50 frames of Orion through my Celestron 8 and the detail in the dust lanes was just insane. Anyone else notice a bigger gap than expected between stacked and single shots?

3 comments

3 Comments

alexk6027d ago

The "dust lanes" part is what gets me. I've got a 6 inch newt and I keep skipping the stacking because it takes forever. How many of those 50 frames did you actually keep? I always end up tossing half my subs because of satellite trails or tracking errors.

emery_white27d ago

You ever spend an hour stacking and realize you kept like 12 frames? That's my life with my 10 inch dob. I shot 45 on M51 last month and tossed 30 because my mount decided to do its own thing. The satellite trails are the worst though, I've got a strip of light running right through the galaxy on half my good subs. Makes you want to throw the whole rig out the window sometimes.

daniel_martin27d ago

50 frames and you tossed half? That's brutal. @alexk60 I don't know how you have the patience for that, I'd be ready to chuck the whole setup after a night like that. I get why you skip stacking though, the whole process is a time sink and then you find out half your data is junk. Satellite trails and tracking errors are the worst, they always seem to hit the best frames too.