Robp

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.

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 . 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.

Glad to hear you are on the mend. Your choices make sense and it will be a good, cheap way getting started. Look forward to seeing some results once you get everything sorted. Good luck in finding what you need. It may be worth posting a wanted advert for the items, most people will have stuff laying around unused Rob

Such heresy! I love my 130pds but yes, a small refractor is something I am considering for the larger targets.

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

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). 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

Cheers Daz. I started planning my nights better because I used to setup then search around for targets and waste 30 minutes of imaging time. This way it gives me some goals and direction for my nights. I'll be taking a break from this blog until the nights start turning darker and hopefully get it finished off.

My latest project the Western Veil Nebula. Two panes of Ha, 5Hours 30Minutes on each pane. 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 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 Rob

So the last week was kind and I managed another couple of sessions under the stars. The lack of dark nights has made this a labor of love indeed. I have gathered 5 hours for each Ha pane so I have managed one of my bonus goals. Total integration time so far is 17 Hours: I may not add any more data to this until the darker skies return :sad: Project status Stage 1 - Complete Stage 2 - Complete Stage 3 - Skipped Stage 4 - 0% Complete Stage 5 - Complete

So I think I may be dreaming but there has been lots of clear nights here recently (and an almost whole week of clear skies forecast to come!) This has meant that I have been able to gather lots of data. I have completed gathering the HA and OIII data for stage one and two. Total time so far is 12 Hours 30 minutes total integration time. I have done a quick process of the data in a HOO palette I am quite happy so far. One side seems lighter than the other so I'll have to work on how I produce the mosaic I can't start the SII stages as I haven't purchased that filter yet so I'm going to press on with the HA and OIII and see if I can hit my bonus goals for these filters of 5 hours per mosaic pane to produce an image of 20 hours integration time in a HOO Palette Stage one - Completed Stage two - Completed

I managed 1 Hour 45 Minutes of subs on the second pane of the Ha layer last night. It was a beautiful clear night for a while but then the clouds rolled on in around 1:30am so I packed up. I have done a quick stretch and stitch so I now know that my framing is as I wanted it. I haven't taken any flats for this pane yet. I was hoping to do them today when I got home from work but it is raining rather heavily right now :sad: Seems like there may be another couple of breaks in the cloud this week so it shouldn't take me to long to finish Just another 45 minutes of data gathering to go, a bit of processing and I can move on to stage two! Stage one 40% complete

Thank you very much Sammak127. I still have a long way to go, astrophotography is definitely a labour of love :)

It's definitely worth a thought as a cheaper way into astrophotography and let you learn the ropes about stacking and processing etc. There is an older thread on here where someone achieved up to 4Mins for unguided on an EQ3Pro (the goto version of your mount I think) with a 50mm lens: http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/119922-eq3-2-as-a-slr-mount/ So Id say 60 seconds is something that may be achievable for you if you work at it and the mount is sound, but even 30 second exposures would get you started on the slippery slope of astrophotography :). The 400D doesn't have live view as far as I'm aware so it will be harder to achieve a good focus, this doesn't mean you can't, just it will take longer! You can make a simple Y mask out of cardboard for the end of the lens to help focusing. I'm building a widefield rig at the moment as well with my 450D using old manual M42 Ashahi SMC lens (135mm and 200mm) as they can be had off ebay for around £30. Hoping to give my old EQ5 mount a new lease of life! The scope part is pretty hard to recommend for. Each person has there own tastes when it comes to that. I chose a Newtonian as it offered more for my money. There are lots of pros and cons for a Newt, in my opinion the ones important to me were: Pros: More aperture for less money. Cons: Have to cool down to ambient temp to get the best out of them (around 30minutes) Have to be collimated (Once you learn this its easy and SW newts hold it quite well but the collimation tool is extra, around £20). I''m afraid I can't really comment on Refractors as I have never owned one. I did have a look through a ST80 once but I preferred the Newtonian. Another thing to think about would be looking for a local astronomy club? They generally do group trips out and I'm sure other astronomers would be more than happy for you to have a look at and through there scopes to get an idea of what would suit you best?

You mention your a keen photographer, do you have a DSLR camera and motors for the EQ3-2?

So I used a CCD field of view calculator to work out the framing of the nebula. I left a little overlap between the two panes. The image of the nebula in the framing isn't my own, but the default image provided by the calculator: The target is very low on the horizon at the moment and within the most light polluted portion of my available sky. It also isn't very dark at the moment during the nights but I couldn't pass up on a clear skies. I managed 2 hours and 30 minutes after throwaway subs (there was some wind), just enough to hit my goal for that pane. Whilst it int the best quality due to the conditions, it will do until I get a chance to take something better. The image is 10x15 minutes in Ha with flats and bias frames applied. I have done a quick stretch to bring out the detail a bit but nothing to serious. Stage one is now 40% complete

I'm starting this blog with the intention of imaging the Western Veil Nebula this summer My main goal is to complete a two pane narrowband mosaic with each pane consisting of 2 Hours 30 minutes of data from HA, OIII and SII (Total of 15 hours integration time). My bonus goal is to complete a two pane narrowband mosaic with each pane consisting of 5 Hours of data from HA, OIII and SII (Total of 30 hours integration time). The equipment I shall be using to gather the images are: Mount: HEQ5 Scope: 130pds Camera: Atik 314L+ Guide scope: 9x50 finder Guide camera: QHY5L-II-C Ha filter - Baader 7nm OIII filter - Baader 8.5nm SII filter - Not known yet (to be purchased) RGB Filterset - Baader CCD filter set To determine how close I am to my goal and to use the clear sky time wisely I have broken everything down into stages Main goal: Stage one 1.1 Determine the framing of the target 1.2 Take 2 hours 30 minutes of HA data on pane 1 1.3 Take 2 hours 30 minutes of HA data on pane 2 1.4 Combine the two HA panes into a single image 1.5 Produce a stretched version of the HA mosaic Stage two 2.1 Take 2 hours 30 minutes of OIII data on pane 1 2.2 Take 2 hours 30 minutes of OIII data on pane 2 2.3 Combine the two OIII panes into a single image 2.4 Produce a stretched version of the OIII mosaic 2.5 Create a bi-colour image from the HA and OIII mosaics Stage three 3.1 Take 2 hours 30 minutes of SII data on pane 1 3.2 Take 2 hours 30 minutes of SII data on pane 2 3.3 Combine the two SII panes into a single image 3.4 Produce a stretched version of the SII mosaic Stage four 4.1 Take 30 minutes of RGB data for the star colour Create two final images from the HA,OIII and SII mosaics: 4.2 One in Hubble palette - SHO 4.3 One in CFHT Palette - HOS Bonus Goal: Stage five 5.1 Take additional 2 hours 30 minutes of HA data on pane 1 5.2 Take additional 2 hours 30 minutes of HA data on pane 2 5.3 Combine with data from stage one 5.4 Produce a stretched version of the HA mosaic Stage six 6.1 Take additional 2 hours 30 minutes of OIII data on pane 1 6.2 Take additional 2 hours 30 minutes of OIII data on pane 2 6.3 Combine with data from stage two 6.4 Produce a stretched version of the OIII mosaic Stage seven 7.1 Take additional 2 hours 30 minutes of SII data on pane 1 7.2 Take additional 2 hours 30 minutes of SII data on pane 2 7.3 Combine with data from stage three 7.4 Produce a stretched version of the SII mosaic Stage eight Create two final images from the HA,OIII and SII mosaics: 8.1 One in Hubble palette - SHO 8.2 One in CFHT Palette - HOS Thanks for reading

Hi Nige, I have a 130pds and HEQ5 and I can vouch for its ability to produce lovely images. I started off like you and built up my kit over a period of years. One thing I will say is your considering buying two scopes, an ST80 and a 130pds but if you are tight on money I would just go with the 130pds and use the extra funds on a Cheshire collimator and an upgraded lens or two. You can guide the 130pds quite easily off a 9x50 finder scope and that is months or years down the line of upgrades. Anyway good luck with your choices!

Welcome to the club! I'm again considering getting a second one and attempting a dual shooter on my HEQ5...Clouds breed madness it seems

Amazing, has to be one of my favourite astro images I've seen. I wonder how much it would cost to get a full size print made?

Excellent news Thalestris24. I hope it performs as well for you as it has for me

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

My first Ha image with my new camera Bit of a learning curve last night as its a little different to using a DSLR. 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 To say that I am happy with this first test image is a bit of an understatement.

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

Excellent image Uranium235, good to see it finished Question for anyone with a 314L+: I'm purchasing a Atik 314L+ for use with this scope, will the Coma Correcter still be required in the imaging train?

Thanks Uranium235. I have a third thumbscrew mod on my list of things to do anyway for my DSLR (thanks to your guidance ). If I go for the 314L I might treat myself to a focuser upgrade and move my current one to the 200P if possible.