Stacked vs single exposure M42 shots and the difference is night and day

I spent last week comparing my old single 30-second shot of the Orion Nebula to a new stacked image from 80 frames at 3 seconds each. The stacked version actually showed the dust lanes and the Trapezium cluster, while the single one was just a blurry white blob. Processing in DeepSkyStacker was a pain at first but totally worth it. Has anyone else had better luck with shorter exposures on bright targets like this?

3 comments

3 Comments

gibson.morgan1mo ago

Well I'm not so sure I'd call it night and day. I've been shooting M42 for years and honestly I've had some really good single exposure shots that show just as much detail. The trick is nailing the exposure time and your camera settings rather than just throwing more frames at it. Stacking has its place sure but I find it introduces noise and artifacts that can ruin a clean image if you're not careful. Plus processing 80 frames takes ages and you risk losing that natural look the nebula has. Sometimes less really is more with these bright targets.

lunah121mo ago

Yeah that "less is more" thing is exactly what I used to think too, but I tried stacking 60 frames on M42 last week and it honestly blew me away compared to my old single shots lol.

harper9141mo ago

What about trying drizzle stacking for lunar detail instead?