Stacking vs. single exposure for the Orion Nebula, night and day difference

I spent like 2 hours last night trying to get a good single shot of M42 with my DSLR on a tripod. Looked okay on the camera screen but when I got it on my computer the core was just a white blob, no detail. Then I tried stacking 30 short exposures in DeepSkyStacker for like 15 minutes of work and the result was way better. You could actually see the dust lanes and the Trapezium stars popped out. Has anyone else found a certain target that just forces you to stack or can you get away with singles on brighter ones?

3 comments

3 Comments

price.gavin5d ago

Totally agree with @jamesf41, stacking is the real deal for Orion. I tried the Rosette Nebula last winter with just 10 second subs and the difference between a single frame and 40 stacked frames was ridiculous, the single shot was just a faint red smudge but the stack actually showed the little dark veins cutting through the gas. You can maybe get away with a single shot on something like the Andromeda Galaxy if the sky is really dark and you take a long 2 minute exposure, but anything with a bright core like M42 will just blow out. The Trapezium stars alone make stacking worth it, you lose that detail otherwise.

val_williams6d ago

Same thing happens with my garden photos... single shot never shows the dew patterns.

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jamesf415d ago

Stacking shots is the only way to catch that stuff, honestly. Even a two or three image merge makes a world of difference with the little details you'd normally miss.