beamer3.6m

Not yet as just doing an imaging run...

Will update when I'm finished.

It's this lens

could be some stray light from nearby streetlight and also jpstairs bedroom light

I'm using it on an unmodded 1100d

So got the 135 lens... seems really solid and well made.

It's first light tonight and this is a single pic of the preview on asiair. I using the lens at 2.8 I believe... why does one side (left) of the lens have the darker patch... is this normal or have I got a dud???

Wow

The new camera seems to be working well!!!

My preference is the 2nd (red) image... just seems more like I imagine it to really look if we were to stand beside it!

1 hour ago, ONIKKINEN said:

Ran it through Siril and PS too, this is what i got out of it:

You have captured some pretty nice data for a beginner, you have done well!

Wow, im impressed...

I think I'm ok getting the data its the processing which I lack any skill at.

I use Siril to stack but the poststack processing just confuses the hell out of me... WHat you have managed to pull out of the data is amazing

16 minutes ago, Phillyo said:

Yes, your data. I used pixinsight. DBE, Canon banding removal script, background neutralisation, EZ Soft Stretch, StarXterminator then a range mask over the galaxy, some curves adjustment before adding the stars back in and reducing them a little bit  

So much to learn!!!

9 minutes ago, Phillyo said:

Not a bad first attempt for sure!! I had a play with the data and it's not that bad, but yes an astronomy specific camera will definitely help.

Added your image and my first attempt with my ASI533 and Samyang 135 lens. 

 

If this is from my data, how did you get it so smooth... What did you do to process it?

Your image is amazing by the way!

The 150p is a very capable scope so don't panic if it doesn't work. This forum is very knowledgeable.

And maybe I was wrong about the eyepiece, maybe it is a 2" if it only fits in the 2" adapter... my bad

OK so that all looks OK.

You will need to twist the silver coloured wheels to the side of the focuser to move it in and out...

There will be a small sweet spot for focus... start by just locating the moon... it should be obvious when you have it even if out of focus as it will be bright. Then turn those wheels so the focuser moves outwards and the bright moon should get smaller as it comes to focus.

If you cannot achieve focus come back here.

Here is the linear .Tiff file without anything done to it other than stacking (no darks included as suggested).

M31 raw stack.tif

Bubwith primary school (about 12 miles south of York).

Small village school with good skies but no equipment... I am a governor and I'm sure the school would love this.

The right hand item in pic is for when/if you use 2" eyepieces (I.e. they are 2 inches wide... the eyepieces in the middle is 1.25" as it is the size of the shiny barrel which you measure not the eyepieces middle bit which you can see is quite wide)

It's not clear how your setting kt all up but usually the left hand item in the pic goes I to the focuser tube on the scope... the part with thumb screws should be pointing outside of the scope itself... you then put the eyepiece into the end and secure it with the thumbscrews.

You then rack the focus tube in and out (should be wheels on either side to turn and make it move in and out... there can be a screw jnder the focuser tube which if overnight stops the tube from actually moving as this is tightened when using with heavy eyepieces to stop them sliding out of focus) to find the focus point.

Apologies if this is teaching you how to suck eggs.

5 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

It certainly is an improvement.

Tiff is also processed version.

Maybe it would be better to include linear stacked data rather than processed.

Good point. I will get that sorted so just the stacked tiff is available with no processing

So I captured a new set of frames without the CLS filter.

These remain 180s lights and I also ran 60 biases frames and used my lights from the previous session as nothing had changed in the imaging train (I know this is not ideal).

I then ran it through Siril without Darks, as suggested, and this is the result... which to my eyes is improved. I can see some banding in the image but the galaxy is more evident and there certainly seems to be more data in the image to work with... 

I attach the PNG and also the .TIFF should anyone want to play with it.

M31.tif

21 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

Bias goes instead of darks - rest is the same, so yes take flats.

Proper calibration requires darks to be taken. Do this every time when working with dedicated astronomy cameras, but DSLRs are a bit different. They have "automatic dark removal" (sort of). There are dozen or so pixels in each row that are covered and don't get exposed with the rest of pixels - but they do participate in exposure and accumulate thermal signal. These are then used to calculate dark current that is removed from other pixels that were actually exposed to light.

This process removes dark current - but what can't be removed like that is bias signal (signal of reading out pixels and analog / digital conversion units). You would normally remove that in regular calibration as darks consist out of both read out signal and dark current signal, but here since dark signal is automatically subtracted - we are only left with bias signal to be removed - that is why we use bias instead of darks with modern DSLRs.

Perfect, thank you

Question... do I still need flats or am I just using bias frames (that could be a really stupid question)

1 hour ago, vlaiv said:

Don't need CLS filter then. CLS filter is a bit aggressive. It works better for emission type nebulae (but not as good as UHC) - but it hurts galaxies and other broad band targets (and reflection nebulae).

In Bortle 4 - you probably don't need filtering at all.

OK. For my next run then I will do without the filter and see how I get on... and do biases

I'm in bottle 4 area with minimal light pollution. I have 2 Street lights which are of a white light type (not orange).

I use a CLS clip in filter.

I will do the bias frames tomorrow as camera set up on scope outside in 'obsy'

So in essence the original data was not good...

Sounds like I need a better camera for this???

Remind what bias frames are???

54 minutes ago, George Sinanis said:

First of all congrats! You managed to capture the centre of an object that is 2.5M ly away…. It is not easy!

 

The tracking seems good 🙂

Here is my first attempt ever with the Andromeda galaxy…..

 

Thank you... I'm loving the mount and the ease of setup...

I think for m31 I need to ditch the cls clip filter and see how it goes too.

Do you have any sample images you've taken?