JerryWise
Postmaster
Reged: 12/26/03
Posts: 9284
Loc: Lexington, SC
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I've been reading with great interest the threads on processing, noise and technique. I've been reluctant to post given the quality of images here. This is the first time I've tried Tonk's technique of a large number of subs and darks. This is 50 subs and only 7 darks. I was exposing the darks on another chip and haven't processed them in yet. It takes a lot more time to work the processing with so many gigabytes of space needed.
This is the first time I've been able to pull out some fine detail on a faint object. Funny blue star halos but I'll track that down in processing next try. Thanks Tonk for insisting on more subs and darks.
Tak FS-60C, NJP, 50 subs at 2 mins, 7 darks, no other stuff (thats the next step in the learning curve). More darks to come when I can get the chip processed. Canon 300D unmodified.
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Jerry
TOA 150, FS-152, 14" LX200R, AP-1200
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Andrew Welsh
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 03/28/06
Posts: 2571
Loc: Rochester, NY
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Not a bad effort, Jerry. With lots of subs you're left with two choices... have a smooth image with not so much detail, or a detailed image full of noise due to the additional stretching. 2min subs on the surface seems kind of short.. what ISO did you shoot at? I usually use 800 unless I am at a dark sky site where I'll use 1600. What kind of light pollution do you have at this imaging location?
I would recommend going easy on the stretch in favor of smoothness for this target. I found M31 was no picnic to process either... I think the only worse object in the sky is the Orion nebula! You'd be better off honing your techniques on globular clusters... or at least you'll feel better about it!
Anyway, good work.. far better than my first "honest" attempts at galaxy imaging.
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LX200 8" classic, f/10, Meade eq. wedge, .63x FF/FR
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Qkslvr
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 06/23/06
Posts: 1316
Loc: NE Ohio, US
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Jerry, I'll be delighted when I get something even close to that!
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Mike
Onyx 80ED/N8/CG-5/40D
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Roy M.
super member
Reged: 01/31/06
Posts: 192
Loc: Northern Virginia
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Well, I think this is reeally good, considering the S/N you started with. Aside from the graininess, you can see *a lot* of details in the spiral clouds. 
Consider yourself lucky that your DSLR chip looks clean. My Nikon D200 has botches and I am now in the process of cleaning the surfaces. Taking flats is *a pain* since the DSLR needs to be in exactly the same orientation as you took the pictures, which is not always easy to do.
CCs,
Roy
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Televue NP-101is
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Corn
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/27/04
Posts: 2199
Loc: Sweden
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You got some nice signal on the galaxy but there is some sort of gradient on the bottom/right side of the image.
Cheers
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Canon 300D (mod)
8" f/5 Skywatcher, EQ6 Pro, HEQ5 and Barn door mount.
http://web.telia.com/~u18524382/
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JerryWise
Postmaster
Reged: 12/26/03
Posts: 9284
Loc: Lexington, SC
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Thanks folks. It's shot at 800.
What would cause a gradient like that and how is it addressed?
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s58y
Postmaster
Reged: 12/12/04
Posts: 6505
Loc: Eastern NY
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Good shot, considering it was taken with just a 60mm scope. I'm surprised with the blue halos. Is the FS-60C an APO scope?
Besides the gradient, there's a very faint arc on the right edge, somewhat below the center -- any idea what caused this?
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Hutech 500D/T1i, 550D/T2i, DMK21AU618, SBIG ST-402 autoguider
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Emanuele
Lord of the Ring
Reged: 11/19/03
Posts: 5652
Loc: Brescia-Italy, and Iowa-US
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Thats a good shot Jerry!!!  That 60mm sure is nice, eh?
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Backyard Skies
Astro-Physics 130EDF Gran Turismo
TEC MC200 F15.5
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JerryWise
Postmaster
Reged: 12/26/03
Posts: 9284
Loc: Lexington, SC
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It's a neat little OTA Emanuele. I like it for guiding and just a little "cool" factor.
I didn't see all the noise on the monitor at work when I posted the image. It is real noisy on this monitor at home. I'll rework it later with the rest of the darks.
Right now I'm doing several hours worth of exposures before the Moon comes up. I really like the NJP. You had a chance to use the 200 much yet?
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Emanuele
Lord of the Ring
Reged: 11/19/03
Posts: 5652
Loc: Brescia-Italy, and Iowa-US
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Jerry.....
I haven`t use the EM200 much. The weather here in Florida have never been so bad! I actually not seen clear day in a month!
Weather is changing worldwide but if Florida will be like this....I need to move !
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Backyard Skies
Astro-Physics 130EDF Gran Turismo
TEC MC200 F15.5
Astro-Physics Mach1GTO on Rob Miller TRI36L
Super Half Hitch on AP Wood Tripod
Baader/Zeiss Mark V
FLI ML8300 & CFW2-7 with Baader Filters
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JerryWise
Postmaster
Reged: 12/26/03
Posts: 9284
Loc: Lexington, SC
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I reworked this image a little with the extra darks and re-posted it at the start of the thread. It's only a Tak FS-60 so you can't expect too much out of a 2 inch plus change light gathering. But one thing is the noise. No matter what I did the noise was still around yet parts of the image were smooth with very small stars coming through. (Ignore the gradient and two dust motes, that comes later.) To get a closer look, I magged the area just above and to the right of M-32. Here is how it looks:
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JerryWise
Postmaster
Reged: 12/26/03
Posts: 9284
Loc: Lexington, SC
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Then I bore down even further and got this which looks like relatively clean areas out toward the upper left. A lot of the noise seems to be stars that were over-highlighted in processing. Still got some fisheye effect on the larger ones too when magged high and JPEG'd. They are not in the TIF original. I magged Robert Gendler's Andromeda here and each of the stars was visible in his image too only muted. (Man his image looks good.)
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JerryWise
Postmaster
Reged: 12/26/03
Posts: 9284
Loc: Lexington, SC
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I can mute out the stars by using a Median filter but it just seems to take something away from it.
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Jerry
TOA 150, FS-152, 14" LX200R, AP-1200
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nytecam
Postmaster
Reged: 08/20/05
Posts: 9841
Loc: London UK
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Great image Jerry! Do you do a nova search on these images?
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JerryWise
Postmaster
Reged: 12/26/03
Posts: 9284
Loc: Lexington, SC
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Hi Nyetecam. I wasn't aware of that function. Very interesting and I have it bookmarked now. The Nova image is very helpful and shows a heavy star field around and over Andromeda too.
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Jerry
TOA 150, FS-152, 14" LX200R, AP-1200
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wrather1
AstroBear
Reged: 10/25/05
Posts: 4489
Loc: Dallas, Texas
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Pardon my asking, but pray tell what is "Nova Search" referring to?
Thanks,
DW
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"And there, within the black inviting vacuum, shine the beacon jewels and diamond dusts of future passed." - D. L. Lundelius
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JerryWise
Postmaster
Reged: 12/26/03
Posts: 9284
Loc: Lexington, SC
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DW, I didn't know either and just Googled it and it's a search engine for the PBS Nova series. They have some pretty good stuff on it.
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Jerry
TOA 150, FS-152, 14" LX200R, AP-1200
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Dave M
Postmaster
Reged: 08/03/04
Posts: 6207
Loc: N.E.Ohio
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I thought Nyetecam was reffering to a nova search as in
super novas in the galaxy.
Nice work on the images, Jerry..
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Dave
Unitron 131-C
Meade 16" F4.5 EQ Starfinder
1976 Celestron Pacific C5
Celestron C90-Astro
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