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Bortle 1 - First Light. Rig based on WO Cat 51. M78 and Boogeyman.

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#1 maxsid

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Posted 05 February 2025 - 04:36 AM

Hello,

I built a new rig. My first mono.

 

Tested it in my home Bortle 8 location.

https://www.cloudyni...1-m45-pleiades/

https://www.cloudyni...rosette-nebula/

 

Shipped it to a remote observatory.

It was installed the next working day after delivery!

It took me another day to get everything connected and working properly.

Great!

 

I am still very new to mono imaging...

 

Tonight, I had my first remote session.

 

Acquired Flats with Wanderer Astro Flat panel. Worked.

Except, every first frame with a new filter was bad (I was aware of that behavior and deleted those frames) - that's Wanderer's driver fault.

 

Had some issues with guiding - most likely, a flaky USB connection somewhere.

 

Main camera rotation was off by about 25*. Need to fix this.

 

February 4, 2025. Bortle 1.

M78 and Boogeyman.

 

WO Cat 51.

ASI2600 MM Pro. -5C and 100 gain.

90s exposures. LRGB. 40:40:40:40 frames. 4 hours total.

AM5 mount. Guided.

 

Not sure if I want to do LRGB or just RGB.

 

boogey-LRGB_1_APP-Image15_stars_reduced-psh-sm.jpg


Edited by maxsid, 05 February 2025 - 05:26 AM.

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#2 fetoma

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Posted 05 February 2025 - 11:42 AM

You should be able to pull more out of that with 4 hours at Bortle 1. smile.gif



#3 maxsid

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Posted 05 February 2025 - 04:44 PM

I sure could



#4 maxsid

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Posted Yesterday, 02:48 AM

Added some more frames.

L:R:G:B. 80:70:60:60 frames. 7 hours total.

 

The Moon started to do its evil things - it was 50% and very close to the target.

 

I am pleased.

There is virtually no noise in the integration.

 

boogey-LRGB_PI-80-71-60-60-Image23-psh-sm.jpg


Edited by maxsid, Yesterday, 02:50 AM.

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#5 Daniel Dance

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Posted Today, 04:10 PM

You should be able to pull more out of that with 4 hours at Bortle 1. smile.gif

I totally agree.  I would invest more time in learning and developing your processing skills rather than tweaking your acquisition.  A Redcat51 is a FAST scope too.

Your mid-tones are much too dark and a lot of good information is not being displayed because of that.

Of course, ultimately this is your image, and whatever you like is the most important thing to consider, not what anyone else says.

 

Interestingly enough, I have almost the same exact image using the exact scope and camera, but in Bortle 4-5 skies and only TWO HOURS!

 

This was taken with:
Redcat51

ASI2600MC, Gain 100

120s subs (2 hours total)

Southern New Jersey - Bortle 4-5

 

 

52690795427_5f1701dd44_h.jpgM78 and the Boogieman Nebula by Daniel McCauley, on Flickr


Edited by Daniel Dance, Today, 04:12 PM.


#6 Daniel Dance

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Posted Today, 04:14 PM

I can also tell your image is going a lot deeper than mine with a lot of the background dust / gas - you just need to tweak it out a bit with some curves adjustments.




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