M42, better known as the "Great Orion Nebula" is one of the targets everyone has on the list. 

However, I had a long journey to get it done somewhat properly:



Upper Left
My very first try was in February 2020. It was blistering cold and I tried to manually focus my Canon 550D on the 8" F5 Newtonian. I had an MGEN II at the time and it was the first night I managed to get it working. Bad polar alignment and not much glue of my NEQ6 I was already highly frustrated, but after a while managed to get M42 into the field of view and I started the exposures with the MGEN. My son was with me out in the field and wanted to go home shortly after it, so I stopped imaging and went home with very little data. Still, I was proud that I got there. 

Upper Right
I got my ASI 2600MC and an AsiAir a few weeks before I took the image. It was way easier to get there and grab the data as the AsiAir is great for beginners. The weather wasn't my friend and some obvious halo was captured. When I processed the data I was still using DSS and Photoshop. In a direct comparison, I was happy with the result, and some friends were already blown away.

Lower Left
Taken in February 2021, a year after the first one and occasionally on the birthday of my long passed father, I was able to take more integration time and processed the hell out of it in Pixinsight and Photoshop, overdid here and there, and reprocessed it a few months later. Another step in the right direction. Then I loaded the data from the Hubble Legacy Archive and processed it during a period with cloudy nights. Even so, it was an improvement, I wanted to go for more.

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Finally February 2022, the next attack after months of clouds and a bold one as it also was my very first try with N.I.N.A. on a mini PC replacing the AsiAir for now. After setting up the framing and the first sequence I was able to get some more integration time using the 10" F4 Newtonian.  Way more experience in PI and PS helped me a lot to get out the details I wanted to see.

Personally, I am so satisfied with the result that I can take M42 from the list for the time being.