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Robp

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Posts posted by Robp

  1. Lovely first image. It really is something when you stack an image run together and the details of your target start to emerge.

    One thing you should be able to do is get rid of the purple background of the sky.  I have a method I use in Photoshop but I'm not sure how that would work in Affinity but it would be worth learning as you will use it a lot!

  2. Thanks Flo, mine arrived last week and its a lovely bit of kit, cant wait to use it.

    The Evoguide 50ED fits within the WO finder rings I had, so I have transplanted half the locking nuts to these rings and I can now easily move it between my Skywatcher 130pds equipped with the evoguide 50ED rings, and the WO star 71.

    IMG_3161.jpg.d03db99d75f4d06e84c59cea147bafe3.jpg

    I will end up mounting it on top of the scopes when I get a chance to drill some holes :icon_biggrin:

    • Like 1
  3. Again FLO leading the way!

    As far as I can tell my Star 71 is fine but I haven't pushed the imaging circle to far. The scope is such a great performer (and it was very cheap if you managed to bag a good one) that paying a little bit more to get a guaranteed perfect one would definitely be a sound investment.

    For people that purchased a scope already FLO; if an issue should arise that needs correction is this a service that we could pay for perhaps or would we be better going direct to someone like Es?

     

  4. 1 hour ago, sagramore said:

    Really like it! There's a lot of nice detail in the core of yours compared to mine - I perhaps should have taken some much shorter exposures like your 5s and 10s ones. Something to remember for next time. Perhaps I can even add some data to mine another night.

    Thanks for sharing, it's a great looking image.

    As long as your shorter exposures are not over exposed in the core area than they are fine. If they are to bright once you try and combine them you can usually manipulate the shorter exposures by a linear stretch to make them darker. Once something is over exposed then you have gone to far in exposure time and need to drop it down.

    You can usually get away with a set of long subs, and a single set of shorter subs. You don't need lots of different sets of shorter sub exposures.

    When you stretch you can use layers to preserve the outer core area (I use Photoshop) and then combine the shorter core subs to your longer ones using something like this:

    http://www.astropix.com/HTML/J_DIGIT/LAYMASK.HTM

    There may also be some information helpful to you in one of my Orion threads:

     

    I've ordered some ADM dovetail clamps http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dovetail-bars/adm_vdpa_adaptor.html to attach my guide scope rings to. Should make life easier transferring my guiding from one scope to another :)

    Are there any other Galaxy targets worth going after with the 130pds?

    • Like 1
  5. Been a while since my 130pds has been out on the mount.  With the majority of my WO star 71 narrowband targets in the area of a street light I'm going to have to move onto something else.

    I decided to have a go with the 130pds on M81, try my hand at LRGB imaging see how I get on.

    With the amount of light pollution I face I don't hold out much hope.

    This is 3 Hours worth of 300 second luminance exposures, roughly processed to see how its going.

    56df5c680d374_testm81.thumb.jpg.50a4859b

    Planning to add a lot more data to this if I get some clear nights, I must say I'm tempted to dust of the 200P and see if I can get it to focus with my CCD.

    • Like 4
  6. Thanks for the processing tip!! Is J-P M:s tone mapping technique described in total somewhere? Would love to try it.

    Sent from my phone using Tapatalk

    The Tone mapping tutorial is available as a PDF from the same site Uranium235 linked for the star removal tool

    http://astroanarchy.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/tone-mapping-v20-my-lecture-at-neaic.html

    I have only had a play around with the technique but it does look promising.

  7. Nice one Rob.

    I've been having a play with the J-P Metsavainio V2 tone mapping technique for practice and there is a part of it for cleaning up the star remnants that works quite well using Photoshop (although it is REALLY tedious!).

    Create two layers of the image with stars

    Remove the stars in whatever way you usually do

    Use the Spot healing brush to remove star remnants

    Place the second layer (with stars) on top and set blend mode to Darken to restore any detail you have removed using the star removal process.

    The problem is that it seems that every star in my image leaves something behind, so it takes ages to go over an image and clean it up with the spot healing brush, I'd hate to think how long that would take on a 383 mosaic :grin:. It does seem to be quite effective though.

    I'll put up an example of it later on tonight as I'm at work right now, if anyone knows of a faster method then please do let me know.

    • Like 1
  8. Awesome! Is that a scaled down version of the entire image or a 100% crop? Looks good either way :)

    Its 100% of the image captured. It was done using the Atik 314L+ camera and whilst it is an amazing chip, the small field of view it provides does leave you yearning for a bigger chip sometimes :grin:

  9. My latest project is a section of the Elephant Trunk Nebula.

    Currently at 41x600s frames of just HA, all with the moon in the sky (only time it seems to be clear round here).

    post-11689-0-90719700-1436214904_thumb.j

    Just a quick process to see how its going

    I've dropped down from my usual 15 minute subs as I found I was dropping to many subs for the small amount of semi-darkness we are getting at the moment.

    As a result I haven't had to remove any subs due to guiding errors for this image which makes me a happy bunny :bunny:

    • Like 6
  10. My latest project the Western Veil Nebula.

    Two panes of Ha, 5Hours 30Minutes on each pane.

    post-11689-0-74232700-1434410267_thumb.j

    Capturing OIII (currently at approx 3 Hours on each pane) aiming for 5 hours+.

    This was captured in my back garden, with no astronomical darkness, in the light pollution of Stoke-On-Trent and a LED streetlight peering over my garden wall.

    The processing errors are all my own :grin:

    Can't wait for the darkness to return, eyeing up the Elephant's trunk nebula next. Think it may even fit on a single pane :Envy:

    Rob

    • Like 7
  11. The 130pds spanks IC1805: 

    Beautiful images as always Uranium235 :)

    Russe, I recently purchased a CCD camera for narrowband.

    Before I was using a 450D and light pollution would saturate my image in 2-3 minutes even with a light pollution filter. I've done 15 min narrowband exposures with my CCD and it hasn't even broke a sweat.

    I even managed a run of subs with the moon right next to my target, and also very close to a streetlamp and still get some nice results. My 450D would just give up and walk inside :)

    • Like 1
  12. My first Ha image with my new camera :grin:

    Bit of a learning curve last night as its a little different to using a DSLR.

    post-11689-0-07417400-1416871097_thumb.j

    Orion Nebula

    7x600s Baader 7nm Ha

    25x10s Baader 7nm Ha (for the core)

    130PDS

    HEQ5

    No Coma Corrector

    Processing is a little rough and with no calibration frames, need to figure out a workflow for processing Ha images.

    With cloud scheduled for the rest of the week I guess it gives me plenty of time to learn :sad:

    To say that I am happy with this first test image is a bit of an understatement.

    • Like 7
  13. Nice images HenryW, having terrible luck with the clouds here as well (last night being the exception).

    Yes +1

    I've been there (with a 314), tried it, and came to the conclusion a CC is definitely required.

    PS: Get the Baader, it wont throw a fit (like the SW does) when you point it at a very bright star.

    Thanks Uranium235 & tingting44. I already have the Baader CC just waiting for the adapter to arrive to get the correct spacing now.

    The 314L+, HA filter and filter wheel arrived at the weekend so I was able to get some test subs last night (albeit without the coma corrector).

    I haven't processed anything yet but even just looking at the previews you can consider me a CCD convert!

    Just need to find the time to mod the focuser now.

    • Like 1
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