I will go to a bortle zone 2.5 but with an almost full moon. I want to photograph Orion's belt with all the surrounding Ha nebulae but I don't know how.

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Tomás Andonie avatar
Hi everyone.

I will go to my field at the end of the month in a bortle sky 2.5 approx. Unfortunately it coincides with the full moon, and worse, it is close to the Orion region. So it's complicating my plans. I have several objectives and ideas to photograph and I have to plan them before going.

My gear is just my Nikon d3300 (Stock) camera, with a 55-300mm lens on my Star Adventurer 2i. I also have an L-Enhance filter and a ClearSky filter, both from Optolong. As you will see in the photo, that is what I want to achieve, it is my dream pic. The entire region of the constellation Orion, with all those great hydrogen nebulae.

But how do I do it? Seeing that I have the moon so close, I think it would be best to use the l-enhance filter, right? But here comes another doubt, and that is that, for example, if I do that, then will it be possible to see the witch's head? Being that it is not an emission nebula?
In that case then maybe it's better to photograph everything without a filter?  Or maybe take 2 photos, one with and one without a filter, and then join them together? I don't know what to do.
What is the best thing to do? I thank in advance everyone who can help me, I am new to astrobin and I love the generosity and kindness of everyone, thank you very much.
Engaging
andrea tasselli avatar
There will gradients galore without any filter and even with the L-Enhance there will be plenty already. You won't get much of NGC1909 with the L-Enhance. My suggestion would be use the L-Enhance and get what you get. Then get back some day with low moon illumination and do the Witch's Head and other parts that are reflection nebulae.
Wes Schwarz avatar
Imo for a serious approach at the image its not worth it. If you can image at home with the filter snd its clear just do that and later go try to image at the darksite under new moon. Add the nb data to the broadband
Fritz avatar
The full moon will introduce a very strong gradient to your picture which will be extremely hard to deal with as there so much nebulosity in the FOV. I would suggest to be patient and wait for a better opportunity. Some targets deserve it smile

CS Fritz
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