Skipper Billy

Better???

Cheers Martin

Exp times are all about the target and your location - I cant comment on Gain as I am a Luddite and use a CCD camera. For Narrowband I usually use 900 second exp. and for LRGB it is heavily target dependant for something with a really high dynamic range it could be as little as 60 seconds but for very faint targets it could be 600 seconds - all binned 1x1. I have tried capturing RGB binned 2x2 and the Lum 1x1 and it worked well for me. I have Bortle 2 skies though! Take a test exposure and check that nothing is blown out - the other limiting factor is how well your mount tracks and how good your guiding is. I refocus on every filter change - even with filters that are supposedly parfocal - I also refocus whenever the temperature changes by more than 2 degrees - my scope is very sensitive to this. My programme is also set to refocus if the HFR value changes by more than 5%

Blimey - my screen was well out of whack - this should look better...... Wixard Nebula Fully Processed TIFF.tif

Cheers Adrian I will have a play in Pixi once I have calibrated my screen - thanks for taking the time out. I am just about able to get my leg across a bike now following majoy surgery and I retire in 2 weeks so watch out!! Tour de France here I come - maybe not!! All the best. David

Thanks Adrian It doesnt look like it has a magenta cast on my mchine at home that I used for processing but on the calibrated screen at work it looks awful - a really strong Magenta cast as you rightly point out. Looks like I need to calibrate my home screen! Many thanks for taking the time and trouble to point this out for me. What process did you use for removing the green noise?? All the best David aka Skipper Billy

I managed to get some extra data over a couple of nights last week and took more time/care over processing it.

You have done the heavy lifting and motorising it would be relatively straightforward - I was forced to motorise mine due to surgery but I wish I had done it years ago !!! Some info about mine is here and this video was a great help although I used a much simpler method of controlling the opening and closing sequence. Happy to share details if it helps! (PM me). https://www.davidbanksastro.com/observatory-conversion

Thank you! 🙂

I hope you are wrong, but fear you are right!

I have been gathering data over the last few nights on the Wizard Nebula. The screaming full moon has made life difficult but clear nights are a rarity these days! This is about 6 hours data - just 2 hours each of Ha, Sii and Oiii and I am planning to gather about another 6+ hours. I felt it was worth processing as I havent processed an image for over 18 months (No imaging last season due to a big op). I had forgotten a lot but this is where its at so far. 4" frac, mono CCD, guided with PHD2, controlled by N.I.N.A., 900 second subs, processed entirely in Pixinsight. Wizard Nebula - NGC7380. The full res file is here - fully processed.tif

Thats a wonderful image and the processing is exquisite. Well done.

You are measuring RMS error in pixels - try changing it to the more usual Arc Seconds and see what happens!!

I believe that 'all sky lens' is a bit misleading - its about 150º rather than the 180º needed for true all sky viewing.

Here is a single 600 second Ha image from an Atik 16200 mono CCD. LIGHT_600.00_1x1_0001_Ha.fit