1088 replies to this topic

[idclimber]

Frank, I tried again with BXT and got better results. I applied this tool to just the blue channel using only halo reduction at the max of -.5. Then channel combination of the color data. The image on the far left is just channel combination and a STF applied. The second is with the blue channel with halo reducion prior to combining. The third is after the star field is removed using SXT.

 

 

It would be relatively easy to then attack the saturation overall in just the stars. Perhaps with a blue color mask or by subtracting the lum from the blue channel for a mask that just works on the halo. 

 

 

[idclimber]

Here is the result of the above approach. There is still some artifacts there, but they are greatly reduced. 

 

[unimatrix0]

Frank, I tried again with BXT and got better results. I applied this tool to just the blue channel using only halo reduction at the max of -.5. Then channel combination of the color data. The image on the far left is just channel combination and a STF applied. The second is with the blue channel with halo reducion prior to combining. The third is after the star field is removed using SXT.

 

Screen Shot 2023-11-25 at 12.03.25 PM.jpg

 

It would be relatively easy to then attack the saturation overall in just the stars. Perhaps with a blue color mask or by subtracting the lum from the blue channel for a mask that just works on the halo. 

I keep avoiding to buy starXterminator, but at the same time Starnet2 leaves a dark or colored circle mark at the place of the stars and that's why I hate removing stars. 

 

but still think it's too much work I think, I need a triplet. 

Edited by unimatrix0, 25 November 2023 - 03:40 PM.

[F.Meiresonne]

Hello all,

 

Got 5 hours on the Pac Mac nebula last night from my bortle 9 NYC backyard. May have slightly missed focus. 600s lights and darks (ended up with more darks than lights because it ran while I was sleeping), bias frames, and flats.

 

These are the resultant stacks after Siril extracted Ha and OIII from the L-Ultimate filter. Equipment used is in my signature.

 

https://storageboi.e...aring/0VWFSVxQS

Pity it is out of focus,otherwise could be nice shot

 

run through Startools and PixInsight

Attached Thumbnails

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[mathematics28]

Pity it is out of focus,otherwise could be nice shot

 

run through Startools and PixInsight

im going to try again tonight and fix the focus. im trying to use pixinsight but annoyed that I can't gat starnet2 to install.

[idclimber]

im going to try again tonight and fix the focus. im trying to use pixinsight but annoyed that I can't gat starnet2 to install.

I have not tried to get it working in well over a year. SXT works better and worth every penny. As are Russ's other tools. 

[F.Meiresonne]

I have not tried to get it working in well over a year. SXT works better and worth every penny. As are Russ's other tools. 

It works fine in my version. But there was an issue. There was a missing file that had to be copied to the bin folder i believe. Seemed to be missing in the plugin for PI. Since i had allready a GUI version running outside pixinsight i found the missing file there and just copied it to the bin folder...if my memory is correct....then it all worked.

[Zambiadarkskies]

M78.  Just over 11 hours.  FF65 at native 416mm, 533mc pro with L3 IR/UV cut filter, 300s subs at gain 100.  Am5 mount autoguided with the usual suspects.  120mm mini and 30mm guidescope. Controlled with ASI Air mini.  Class 1 skies.  

 

https://www.dropbox....10mins.fit?dl=0

 

This is quite probably the last data that I will or can share this year, that 11Hrs was (by my rather fortunate skies standard) a real struggle over 4 nights or so.   The rains are set in now in earnest and there is no way I can leave my rig running overnight.  In the tropics there is a point where forecasts just break down completely and every night is a complete lottery, not one I am willing to play.  I still have hopes of getting my 533mc and Sigma 28mm f1.4 mated up for a super wide Orion where I can gather the data while babysitting at the granite rock "observatory", but I am by no means hopeful.  Our last day of packing up the lodge for the worst of the rains is on the 9th of December.  After that we head to Europe for holidays and then marketing efforts/doing bookings and reservations and all that remotely until early March.  

 

I have enjoyed sharing my data and seeing what people make of class 1 data from the SH.  I only really started gathering "proper" data this year (as in multi night sessions with a goto mount) and am quite happy with some of it - like my 50+ hour 9 panel mosaic of the veil(s) for example.  I do intend to re-name and structure it all and ask Oort Cloud to upload a link to his first post - something we have talked about - so that it is easy to navigate the library of data.   

 

My own version of my own data here:  

 

Edited by Zambiadarkskies, 26 November 2023 - 01:58 PM.

[mackiedlm]

M78.  Just over 11 hours.  FF65 at native 416mm, 533mc pro with L3 IR/UV cut filter, 300s subs at gain 100.  Am5 mount autoguided with the usual suspects.  120mm mini and 30mm guidescope. Controlled with ASI Air mini.  Class 1 skies.  

 

https://www.dropbox....10mins.fit?dl=0

 

This is quite probably the last data that I will or can share this year, that 11Hrs was (by my rather fortunate skies standard) a real struggle over 4 nights or so.   The rains are set in now in earnest and there is no way I can leave my rig running overnight.  In the tropics there is a point where forecasts just break down completely and every night is a complete lottery, not one I am willing to play.  I still have hopes of getting my 533mc and Sigma 28mm f1.4 mated up for a super wide Orion where I can gather the data while babysitting at the granite rock "observatory", but I am by no means hopeful.  Our last day of packing up the lodge for the worst of the rains is on the 9th of December.  After that we head to Europe for holidays and then marketing efforts/doing bookings and reservations and all that remotely until early March.  

 

I have enjoyed sharing my data and seeing what people make of class 1 data from the SH.  I only really started gathering "proper" data this year (as in multi night sessions with a goto mount) and am quite happy with some of it - like my 50+ hour 9 panel mosaic of the veil(s) for example.  I do intend to re-name and structure it all and ask Oort Cloud to upload a link to his first post - something we have talked about - so that it is easy to navigate the library of data.   

 

My own version of my own data here:  

 

Hi Gilmour,

 

I hope you have a good an succesful trip home.

 

I just wanted to say thanks for sharing all the data you have done over the past months.it is very generous of you and it has been a real pleasure  to have the chance to process so many targets that I am unlikely to ever shoot myself. all of it has been great but for me the highlight was your rho Ophiuchi - it was amazing.

 

So thanks again and good luck.

 

David.

[JF1960]

Amazing data @Zambiadarkskies!!!  Thanks for sharing it.  Here is my attempt at processing of the data:

[Zambiadarkskies]

Hi Gilmour,

 

I hope you have a good an succesful trip home.

 

I just wanted to say thanks for sharing all the data you have done over the past months.it is very generous of you and it has been a real pleasure  to have the chance to process so many targets that I am unlikely to ever shoot myself. all of it has been great but for me the highlight was your rho Ophiuchi - it was amazing.

 

So thanks again and good luck.

 

David.

 

Thanks David - very much appreciated.  I still think our Rho collaboration should have won something...  Oh, well, maybe next year. 

[Zambiadarkskies]

Amazing data @Zambiadarkskies!!!  Thanks for sharing it.  Here is my attempt at processing of the data:
 

You are very welcome,  good image.  

[Muskoka]

Thank you Gilmour for all the wonderful data you've provided us, stuff I'll never get to photograph. It's a joy to edit. 

 

A much more muted, toned down approach I did on this one.

 

Edited by Muskoka, 28 November 2023 - 06:41 AM.

[Zambiadarkskies]

Thank you Gilmour for all the wonderful data you've provided us, stuff I'll never get to photograph. It's a joy to edit. 

 

A much more muted, toned down approach I did on this one.

 

m78pi.jpg

It has been a pleasure Muskoka.  To be honest it is only the feedback from a few on here that made me keep sharing.  

[Kerry D. Green]

 

Hi, a few weeks ago I took this data (pleiades, 135mm, canon R7, 2.5 hours, bortle 3 skies, tracked,

 

Not guided, star adventurer 2i.

 

 

 

This is what I got out of it, would love to see what you guys can get out of it!

 

Now the link should work

 

https://drive.google...ew?usp=drivesdk

 

Greetings! I have been away a few months and need to hone my processing skills.  I gave your image a shot which was good data and fun to process.  It always amazes me how much dust there is in this area and I'd really love to get a lens like this to capture some wide field images.  Thanks for sharing your data and I hope you like what I've done.

 

[f8Xtractor]

Hi All,

 

For the umpteenth time, I've had a go at M45. Latest attempt I could get just two hours before the clouds cut the session short.

 

I have uploaded my stack from DSS here, along with an aiutosave from GraXpert: https://drive.google...T0v?usp=sharing

 

Setup is a SkyWatcher Evoguide 50 DX with QHY533c on a SGP mount via SharpCap. No guiding (even ST-4) and I can't really manually dither :/

For some reason, the calibration frames didn't aquire properly (save in their folders) in Sharpcap despite it giving the green bar once the frames (I use 30) were done....

 

Anyway, While I can get some nebulosity patches, it looks more like I shot everything through OIII and SII filters! I think I will need at least 4 hours??

 

For comparison, I've also attached my best attempt with my Sony NEX-5R camera w/ Rokinon 135mm lens - still bad (no dithering), but at least it looks like M45!

 

Can someone take a stab at my stack file and see if you can get something better out of it?

 

Thanks in advance!

Attached Thumbnails

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[jkelly]

I love waking up to processing an image - TY!

I kind of cheated on this one to have the blue nebulosity to show.

 

I used GraXpert on your Autosave.tif image.

Then I used starnetV2 to separate them.

And then used GIMP and did a color temperature shift to get the brown to turn blue and then a linear and curve stretch - and then recombine.

 

Not really much more nebulosity though.

 

M45

 

Edited by jkelly, 01 December 2023 - 10:18 AM.

[Kerry D. Green]

Hi All,

 

For the umpteenth time, I've had a go at M45. Latest attempt I could get just two hours before the clouds cut the session short.

 

I have uploaded my stack from DSS here, along with an aiutosave from GraXpert: https://drive.google...T0v?usp=sharing

 

Setup is a SkyWatcher Evoguide 50 DX with QHY533c on a SGP mount via SharpCap. No guiding (even ST-4) and I can't really manually dither :/

For some reason, the calibration frames didn't aquire properly (save in their folders) in Sharpcap despite it giving the green bar once the frames (I use 30) were done....

 

Anyway, While I can get some nebulosity patches, it looks more like I shot everything through OIII and SII filters! I think I will need at least 4 hours??

 

For comparison, I've also attached my best attempt with my Sony NEX-5R camera w/ Rokinon 135mm lens - still bad (no dithering), but at least it looks like M45!

 

Can someone take a stab at my stack file and see if you can get something better out of it?

 

Thanks in advance!

This is challenging data.  Did you use flats?  There appears to be a few dust motes in the image.  It almost looks like a piece of dust was drifting around the image.  There is also signs of walking noise, so working out dithering will help with this.  Some of the stars are a bit elongated on the right side of the image.  This could be due to tilt.  And more data will absolutely help.  I think you're on the right track, if you take care of these little issues you will get some great images! 

 

Below are a couple of my attempts.  One is overstretched a bit to highlight the noise issues.  

 

[Kerry D. Green]

I've attached an annotated photo below to describe what I think are dust motes.  In addition, the bright white specs you see throughout the image are stars that were not able to be removed due to elongation.  They are mostly on the right side, that's why I thought tilt, but it could also be field curvature.  Also, if you look carefully, you can seed some nearly vertical banding going from slightly left to right.  I think this may be walking noise.

 

[Kerry D. Green]

15.5 Hours on the Sculptor Galaxy.  This was taken over the 23rd and 24th so the moon was an issue.  

 

https://www.dropbox....23lbh1itkj&dl=0

 

 

I've been going back through the thread and picking images I want to process.  Here's my take at your Sculptor Galaxy data.  As has been the case, your data is a pleasure to process.  I tried to bring out color as much as I could.  Perhaps someday I will be out of the "saturated phase," but I don't think so.  Those type of images are pleasing to me!

Attached Thumbnails

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Edited by Kerry D. Green, 01 December 2023 - 05:30 PM.

[jkelly]

Beautiful image of the Sculptor Galaxy.

Worked it in Siril and GIMP.

 

[f8Xtractor]

I love waking up to processing an image - TY!

I kind of cheated on this one to have the blue nebulosity to show.

 

I used GraXpert on your Autosave.tif image.

Then I used starnetV2 to separate them.

And then used GIMP and did a color temperature shift to get the brown to turn blue and then a linear and curve stretch - and then recombine.

 

Not really much more nebulosity though.

 

M45

 

m45-4B_sm.jpg

Thanks, I'll need to look into getting something to process stars separately! Starnet might just do the trick

 

This is challenging data.  Did you use flats?  There appears to be a few dust motes in the image.  It almost looks like a piece of dust was drifting around the image.  There is also signs of walking noise, so working out dithering will help with this.  Some of the stars are a bit elongated on the right side of the image.  This could be due to tilt.  And more data will absolutely help.  I think you're on the right track, if you take care of these little issues you will get some great images! 

 

Below are a couple of my attempts.  One is overstretched a bit to highlight the noise issues.  

 

M45_sm_12-1-23.jpg M45b_sm_12-1-23.jpg

For reasons I'm not sure of, SharpCap didn't save any of the calibration files after taking them like it usually does. Dust motes for sure, all the more obvious with no flats. I'll look into the possibility of a wee bit of tilt on the camera, thank you.  

[17.5Dob]

M78.  Just over 11 hours.  FF65 at native 416mm, 533mc pro with L3 IR/UV cut filter, 300s subs at gain 100.  Am5 mount autoguided with the usual suspects.  120mm mini and 30mm guidescope. Controlled with ASI Air mini.  Class 1 skies.  

 

https://www.dropbox....10mins.fit?dl=0

 

This is quite probably the last data that I will or can share this year, that 11Hrs was (by my rather fortunate skies standard) a real struggle over 4 nights or so.   The rains are set in now in earnest and there is no way I can leave my rig running overnight.  In the tropics there is a point where forecasts just break down completely and every night is a complete lottery, not one I am willing to play.  I still have hopes of getting my 533mc and Sigma 28mm f1.4 mated up for a super wide Orion where I can gather the data while babysitting at the granite rock "observatory", but I am by no means hopeful.  Our last day of packing up the lodge for the worst of the rains is on the 9th of December.  After that we head to Europe for holidays and then marketing efforts/doing bookings and reservations and all that remotely until early March.  

 

I have enjoyed sharing my data and seeing what people make of class 1 data from the SH.  I only really started gathering "proper" data this year (as in multi night sessions with a goto mount) and am quite happy with some of it - like my 50+ hour 9 panel mosaic of the veil(s) for example.  I do intend to re-name and structure it all and ask Oort Cloud to upload a link to his first post - something we have talked about - so that it is easy to navigate the library of data.   

 

My own version of my own data here:  

 

 

M78 was my short list of targets to shoot this Winter......after seeing yours, I might throw in the towel and find something else for my Bortle 5+/6- backyard .

[Muskoka]

Attempt at Gilmours Sculptor Galaxy from page 26.

 

[jakesweep]

Here's my go at @Zambiadarkskies's data. Having fun getting back into this, and I really appreciate the data to play around with!