Failure to Conquer the Trapezium

Hello everyone. This is Joe.

The New Year is a time when we tend to be a bit lazy, but I was busy photographing the Orion Nebula.
Whenever this time of year comes around, the question that constantly occupies my mind is, "How can I conquer the Trapezium?"
Hasn't everyone experienced this? That brightness difference is just too tough, isn't it?

So, I did my best again this year with exposures of 2 seconds, 5 seconds, and 180 seconds.
As for the procedure,

WBPP>DZx1>GraX>BXT>StarAlignment>MGC>ArcsinhStretch>CMM>CurvesTrans>NXT

And so, I held a PixInsight easy-mode festival.
However, the brightness difference of the Trapezium proved to be formidable after all.

Now, what I learned through this shoot is the "importance of order."
For example, if you run BXT after finishing StarAlignment, the stars around the edges can sometimes shift unnaturally depending on the telescope or camera used.
Although there is a possibility that this order might prevent the connection from Image Solver to MGC, it seems to be working out somehow.
So, my procedure has settled into this sequence. It's a lesson learned thanks to Cerberus (my telescope's nickname).

Regarding blending, it was a series of trial and error. I tried approaches like LinearFit, RangeSelection, HDRComposition, DynamicAlignment, and PixelMath, but the brightness difference wouldn't smooth out, and I ended up shouting, "Kakarot!" But in the end, I managed to give it some shape (or gave up) by compositing the intermediate image generated by HDRComposition in Photoshop.

By the way, if you get stuck with PixelMath, it's convenient to ask ChatGPT. No, really! It's helpful not only for asking how to use it, but sometimes it even suggests unexpected ideas.

On the other hand, what I keenly felt during this shoot was not to underestimate short exposures. I took about 10 shots each for 2 seconds and 5 seconds, but the noise was very prominent. I've decided to take 30 shots each next time.

By the way, speaking of the recent great enemy for astronomers, it's the massive traffic jam of M42 Starlink satellites, isn't it? It's like a scene of "salmon swimming upstream against the current." In the new version of PixInsight (Ver 9.2), the feature to automatically remove these satellites seems to have evolved a bit, but it's still not perfect.

In the midst of this, a savior has appeared! It is the
"Seti Astro Suite V2.5". This is amazing. (And it's free!)
I think it will be useful as a powerful suite that functions independently.
*It seems to be a beta version, so it crashes occasionally on Windows.
If you have PixInsight, please copy the link below after updating and register it in the script repository. *Individual registration is not possible, so it's a bulk registration.

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/setiastro/pixinsight-updates/main/

How to use it is here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRao-Mf-I4U

Useful Feature No. 1
NB to RGB stars
Convert stars that turned pink in SHO composition to natural RGB! Until now, I had been faking it with SCNR, but this solves it.

Useful Feature No. 2
Blink Comparator
You can select and delete strong satellite data with a lightweight viewer. A feature that wasn't in Pi's Blink.

Useful Feature No. 3
Star Stretch
It feels like you can stretch only the stars. It also seems to allow for color boost and green adjustment like SCNR.

Useful Feature No. 4
Cosmic Clarity Satellite Trail Removal Tool
The definitive satellite removal tool! Miki Maya supposedly said "Don't give up on M42" or maybe she didn't (*personal opinion).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4QgwMZeShU

So, this M42 shoot was a series of hardships, but I also learned a lot. And I feel that my enjoyment is expanding further by being helped by the evolution of new tools and technologies.

Next time, I will diversify the exposure times and prepare an environment that doesn't fear Starlink with even smoother HDR processing and noise countermeasures, and try again! I hope you all enjoy a wonderful starry sky life. See you later!