43 replies to this topic

[Steve Ch]

I caught this in my light-polluted back yard (Bortle 6) near the half moon.

 

24 x 5 minutes

Camera: ASI2600MCPro with Optolong L-extreme filter

ATT115 refractor with an 0.8x reducer/FF (650 mm FL), guided with an ASIAir mini on an RS135E mount.

Processed in APP (extracting Ha and OIII data from original dual band data for LRGB processing), then Photoshop.

 

[jkelly]

Gear
Astro-Tech AT80ED w/ Field Flattener
Optolong LeXtreme
ASI 533MC Pro
Sky-Watcher AZ-GTI Mount
ASIAir

 

Capture
4 Panel Mosaic
Mosaic created in ASIAir with 10% overlap
4 panels @ .60sec x 60 exposures.
20 Darks, 20 Flats, 20 Bias

 

Processing
DSS
GraXpert
ASIStudio to covert to jpg
Microsoft Image Composite Editor
GIMP

 

I had hoped to image more this month.

Due to the weather on the East Coast and now a full moon,

I have decided to enter my final.

 

Learning mosaics was challenging, not so much planning

and shooting but matching the four panels was really tough.

Good experience.

 

 

[const]

California is too big for my long SCT. I did a two panel mosaic just to get this close up of a part of it.

Interestingly, I only did a pure linear stretch of the Ha image of the nebula and it is good enough. I could play with contrast here and there but decided to keep it that simple. Stars are RGB and I used fancier GHS on them.

 

Celestron EdgeHD 9.25" with .7x reducer on a Losmandy G11T. MoonLite CHL 2.5".

ZWO EFW 7×36mm, OAG-L, ASI174MM-Mini, ASI2600MM Pro.

Astronomik MaxFR H-alpha 6nm and Deep-Sky RGB filters.

 

H (17+14)×120s

R (20+12)×30s

G (16+12)×30s

B (16+12)×30s

 

Captured and guided with KStars/Ekos. Processed in PixInsight, PhotometricMosaic.

 

[TomC_RR]

Taken Nov 2023

 

WO Z81 with .8 Reducer FF

Canon RA with L-Ultimate

28 - 300 sec subs with bias / darks / flats

1600 ISO

AVX

 

Processed in PI

WBPP

BXT

SPCC

BXT

Histogram Stretch

SXT

Curves

NXT

 

 

[Ar3s701]

Going to be my last project with the 80mm scope for a while because I've got a new Askar 130PHQ to play with.

 

Gear

 

Imaging Telescope: TS-Optics Imaging Star 80 mm f/4.4 (TSAPO81Q)
Imaging Cameras: Player One Poseidon-M Pro
Mounts: Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro
Filters: Antlia 3nm Narrowband H-alpha 2" × · Antlia 3nm Narrowband Oxygen III 2" × · Antlia 3nm Narrowband Sulfur II 2" ×
Guiding Scope: SVBony SV198 50mm
Guiding Cameras: ZWO ASI290MM Mini

 

Frames:

 

Ha - 77×300″

OIII - 160×300″
SII - 71×300″

 

Integration - 25h 40′
Bortle Scale -  4.50

 

Processing

 

Stacked in PI

Photometric Mosaic (S,H,O)

DBE

BXT

NXT

LRGB Combination

ColorCalibration

Background Neutralization

SXT

GHS

Narrowband Normalization (Bill Blanshan)

Selective Color Correction Script

Curves

GHS on stars

Boost Saturation on stars

SCNR on stars

CorrectMagentaStars script

Screen Stars Script

Curves

Export as Tif and open in Photoshop

Final adjustments with CameraRaw tool

Export as jpg

 

 

[ntph]

My humble entry, with data acquired late October 2023, backyard Bortle 6-7

Canon EF 100-400mm L I at 250mm f/4.5; L-eNhance filter, QHY 168c, on an Astro-Physics Model 400 mount, guided

48 x 120 seconds

processed in PixInsight:

WBPP, dynamic crop, SPCC

GraXpert AI

BXT, NXT, SXT with screened stars

GHS, CT

LHE

NXT

 

process stars to taste

 

ScreenStars script

 

tweak with CT

 

31 seems like a nice random number  

 

Edited by ntph, 27 January 2024 - 10:42 PM.

[stefsaber]

Initially tried to process this as HOO, but have such a limited view on the nebula it wasn't that interesting. So just processed it normally. Mainly was working on debugging issues with my new mount this month, so between that and rain/clouds, just grabbed two nights on this one.

 

AT90CFT with 0.8x reducer

533mc at -10C, Gain 100 and Antlia 5nm Dual Band Filter

CEM40 with AT60ED guider

 

83 x 300s

 

Processed in Siril and Photoshop

 

[spacecadetacademy]

AT80EDT .8 reducer. asi1600mm. baader SHO 

 

Been gathering data since 12/2023. Finally got a clear night this week to finish the RBG stars.

1800s x 3 ha

600s x 5 ha

300s x1 ha

 

1800s x 7 oiii

600s x 19 oiii

 

1800s x 7 sii

600s x 8 sii

 

6s x 120 R

6s x 120 B 

6s x 120 G 
6s x 240 L

 

All processed in pixinsight. 

[Tomvictor]

Date 16 January 
Samyang 135mm F2.0
ZWO ASI533MM Pro
ZWO AM5
Baader H-alpha Highspeed(f/2) 6.5nm (CMOS-Optimized) 31 mm

40×300 sec

Bortle 4-5

 

[caseyz]

Gear:

Scope:  Redcat 61
Filter: ZWO DUO
Camera:  ASI2600MC Pro
Mount: ZWO AM5
Guide Scope:  ZWO 30MM
Guide Camera: ASI120MM Mini
Control: ASIAir Plus
EAF: ZWO EAF

Acquisition:

21H 5 min subs
From my Bortle 5 backyard

Processing:

PI
PS
Lightroom

 

[psienide]

Here's what I have so far after ~11 hours. Calling this the final because i'm ready to move on to new targets.

Filters: Optolong 7nm Ha - Antlia Hb/OIII - Antlia 4.5nm SII - Antlia 4.5nm OIII

Camera: ASI 294mm at Bin1 108 gain

Scope: Samyang 135mm

Mount: HEQ5

Software: Exclusively Siril

Attached Thumbnails

• 

Edited by psienide, 29 January 2024 - 11:03 PM.

[TelescopeGreg]

Looks like no more possible nights for imaging, due to weather.  I had a chance last night, but other commitments prevented my making use of it.  Bad planning on my part, so this will have to be it.

 

This is a scant 30 minutes of images, 6 subs of 5 minutes of which 5 were shot through high clouds.  This was intended to just be an initial "contingency" night, made without filters.  It was supposed to be clear, but after the first sub I looked up and saw that most of the sky was suddenly obscured.  The guider seemed happy so I let it run, but after the 6th sub the guider lost its track and the session was done.  That was the last time the scope was out.

 

Imaged 5-January 2024 from home (Bortle-6 + clouds)

 

Telescope:  Stellarvue SVA130EDT (130mm f/7 no reducer or flattener)

Camera:  ASI2600MC-Pro (no filters)

Mount:  Celestron AVX

Guider:  ZWO 60mm f/4.6 scope, ASI174mm Mini camera.  CCDciel internal guider software

At-mount computing:  Raspberry Pi 4B, Astroberry distro.  CCDciel session manager, ASTAP plate solving

6 x 300 seconds Lights, 20 each Darks, Flats, Dark-flats

Stacked with ASTAP, processed in StarTools 1.7

 

 

[ohadl]

My Equipment:

• iOptron gem45
• Risingcam IMX571 Color
• Askar 107phq
• Askar phq 0.7 Reducer

My Data:

• HAO3 Filter: 172 * 300s
• SIIO3 Filter: 151 * 300s
• Total exposure time: 27 hours
• Bortle 5

Processing:

• Pixinsight

 

Edited by ohadl, 30 January 2024 - 08:27 AM.

[Robert7980]

Just barely made this months challenge, last night was the only clear skies in nearly 8 weeks, so this will have to do. 

 

Skywatcher Esprit 120ED with 0.77 reducer 

ASI-2600MM 

Antlia 3nm Pro SHO + V pro RGB 

EQ6

 

4 hours, 15 each 300s SHO and 30s RGB 

 

Basic processing with RGB Combine and SCNR to remove greens, color adjustment with curves and Photoshop, stretched with GHS and Curves. BXT and NXT. 

 

-R 

 

[T~Stew]

Well I had planned to add a lot more data to this, and try out my new SII/OIII duoband, but didn't get a single night to image it this month. All I have is 2hrs and change of regular duoband in December.

 

Shot with my more beginner type gear, tracker dslr and 300mm lens.

 

 

Dec. 13, 2023
IDAS Nebula Booster NBZ: 32×300″(2h 40′) ISO800 f/2.8
 

Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L USM
Canon EOS 60D (modified)
iOptron SkyGuider Pro

 

Siril, Darktable, Gimp

Processed in standard color palette,nothing fancy for this one.

[Alrakis]

I think this is one of my best captures recently. Still learning more and need to figure out a few more ideas, but here we are.

 

Scope:  Skywatcher Esprit 100
FF:  Skywatcher doublet field flattener
Camera:  Canon T7i (modded)
Filter:  Optolong L-Enhance
Mount: AP 1100GTO
Guide scope: Celestron 50mm finder/guider
Guide cam: Lacerta MGEN3
Acquisition:  On-Camera through MGEN3 with dithering
Processing in SIRIL (with an Astroclean finish with Astrosharp)

 

ISO 800, 3 min subs x 91 (4hr 33min) on January 13th and 17th

 

Ran through the Siril OSC script, used Siril's background extraction, photometric color, remove green noise, Asinh stretch, Histogram stretch, color saturation. Followed by Astroclean deconvolution by Astrosharp.

 

Full scale picture can be found here:

 

https://www.flickr.c...eposted-public/

 

Chris

 

[dswtan]

Just a slight update to what I posted in the progress thread on 15 Jan. Now with less aggressive star reduction and a brighter background to avoid such a strong "vignette" look.

 

Equipment:

Astro-Tech AT60ED
ZWO ASI294MM Pro + ZWO ASI290MM Mini
iOptron GEM45 (going bad at the time)
Astronomik Deep-Sky RGB · Astronomik 6nm
Astro-Tech .8X Reducer for 60ED (ATRF60) · ZWO EAF  · ZWO EFW 8 x 1.25″ / 31mm  · ZWO OAG
Adobe Lightroom · Bill Blanshan Star reduction methods · Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight · Russell Croman Astrophotography BlurXTerminator · Russell Croman Astrophotography NoiseXTerminator · Russell Croman Astrophotography StarXTerminator · Stanley Dimant EZ Processing Suite
 

Capture:

~140 frames each 240 sec narrowband + 30 frames each 30 sec RGB

Unity gain, 0C

NINA simple sequence over multiple nights, 2-3hrs per night

Bortle 4/5.

 

Process:
LinearFit Ha and SII to OIII
BXT correct only
BXT gentle
NXT gentle
GHS on Ha, EZ Soft Stretch on SII and OIII -- since Ha dominates and needs more care
Combine (PixelMath above)
Bill Blanshan SCNRv4
SXT starless - process RGB stars separately anyway (LinearFit to Green, Combine, GraXpert, BXT correct only, SPCC, NXT, EZ Soft Stretch)
More GHS, for aesthetics
Curves
NXT final
BXT final
LocalHistogramEqualization gentle
DarkStructureEnhance defaults
Combine RGB stars
Bill Blanshan Star Reduction v2
+30 Whites in Lightroom for final aesthetics on color-calibrated monitor

 

Full resolution: https://astrob.in/ezwpvh/B/
 

[nikm]

Thank you to everyone who participated this month, great looking images!

 

This months winner is Mark_E, post #11. 

I'll try to get the new post up as soon as I can.

[diver66]

Let's hear it for the procrastinators.  

 

Gear

SVX102T

PlayerOne Poseidon C

OAG with PlayerOne Xena-M

 

92 Subframes @ 120s = 3hrs 4 mins

25 Darks @ 120s

25 Flats @ 0.57s

25 Flat Darks @ 0.57s

 

Pixinsight Process:

These are part of the WBPP process:

• Generate Master Flats and Master Darks
• Calibrate Light Frames
• Debayer
• Registration
• Local Normalization
• Autocrop

Post Processing:

• DBE
• SPCC
• Histogram Stretch 
• Export to Tiff

 

Adobe Lightroom:

Adjust exposure, contrast and add Watermark 

 

Edited by diver66, 02 February 2024 - 10:11 AM.