Gina

Tried extreme histogram stretch in Photoshop but there is indeed absolutely nothing there! Been thinking about things and I think Barnard's Loop can wait a bit - Orion is too low in the SE until late at night ATM and there seems to be "good pickings" at the present FOV. I've already taken the imaging rig off the mount to change lenses but I can easily put it back without changing lenses. I think that's what I'll do. The 135mm lens is a really good one and does seem to give better results than the 28mm.

Thanks again Ken and gives me pause for thought Took 31 Ha subs of Orion from the Flame Nebula to M42 last night. BPP failed to register a couple leaving 29 which it seemed fine but when I came to look at the result there was nothing there except a cluster of dots where M42 should be , seems the M42 data got rejected but I don't know where the rest went.

I thought I recognised the main DSO in the image The FOV seems to be rather nice for this DSO This is one I haven't imaged before - one of dozens no doubt

Thanks Ken I should have guessed that PixInsight could have given me the answer I sure do have a lot to learn But I enjoy learning so that's alright

Lots of imaging data to analyse from last night, including some alternatives from the main runs on IC1396 and IC443. A quick look at Orion and a search for Simeis 147 which I'm keen to have a go at. Here's a first look... Just 10 120s Ha subs for identification. Could be Simeis 147 in the top left corner - must check my FOV scale. 135mm f2.5 lens - 433m x 335m = 7.2° x 5.6° - Simeis 147 is said to be 3° diameter approx. so that's not it - image is far too small. I'm changing lens to 28mm f3.5 for tonight with the main plan of capturing Barnard's Loop etc. in Orion but until that comes into view I can explore other areas.

Downloaded the hundred odd OIII subs of IC1396 and checked them in Blink - 115 brewed down to 107. Now in BPP.

I shall go on collecting OIII subs and maybe it will add up to a useful amount of image data. Tomorrow night is foirecast to clear and I'm planning to swap lenses for a shorter focal length one, maybe 28mm and move over to Orion and capture Barnard's Loop etc.

IC443 18 OIII subs processed in BPP and histogram stretched in Gimp - there is something there - just! Can just make out a bit of the head of the Jelly Fish.

And here's a screenshot of the integrated SII result for the H&S stretched a bit in GIMP.

Here is a single OIII IC1396 sub greatly histogram stretched.

Now processing 80 SII H&S subs in BPP. There are faint but noticeable images in these subs. Two dozen 120s OIII subs of IC 1396 captured so far and continuing...

PI has just finished and here is a screenshot of the result of the usual BPP of OIII of the Heart & Soul Nebula.

BPP in PixInsgiht is still processing OIII images of the Heart & Soul - all 357 of them! Meanwhile, I'm imaging IC 1396 in OIII with 120s subs. These are just showing a faint image and I think if I get enough they will be alright.

I'm bound to get some useful SII at some point as I have before with the 460EX and then I'll probably want the use the Hubble Palette. OK so I can do it in Photoshop but I would like to avoid that where appropriate. My experience of PixInsight so far is that it's extremely powerful and should give very good results but the learning curve is even steeper than Photoshop and that was bad enough! I do like PI though - it seems to fit my personality (and I did maths up to degree standard at university). I like that PI shows its workings whereas Ps just sits there with a "processing" icon. Googling brought up an oldish thread here in SGL plus several links to the PI forum - I'm investigating...

H&S in BPP - 3 frames failed the star registration leaving 258 good ones for integration. I've already proofed the OIII and SII frames in Blink though only a few SII and pretty weak data. I also have the NAN data in Ha and OIII to process (SII was useless) - so plenty of data processing work to catch up on. But I do have other things to do.

Yes, the data processing is quite tedious but the results are rewarding. Going through hundreds of images weeding out the poor and duff ones in Blink takes quite some time and effort - processing with BPP takes time but doesn't need much attention while it runs. The 1600 allows data capture in short time but generates a lot of data.

Another go at IC 443 - no saturated white now

Now processing Heart & Soul...

IC 443 post processed in Photoshop. 156 Ha subs g500 -30C. I think I might have overdone it and saturated the whites in part of the head. May have another go later. Hoping to capture some OIII tonight.

IC 443 post processed in Photoshop. 156 Ha subs g500 -30C. I think I might have overdone it and saturated the whites in part of the head. May have another go later.

IC 443 Jelly Fish in Ha 156 Ha subs g500 -30C calibrated, registered and integrated with BPP in PI - auto stretched screenshot cropped in GIMP but no other post processing - I do that in Photoshop in 16bit TIFF. (GIMP is only 8 bit - OK for snaps but rubbish for astro images). This is the full frame and includes the Monkey Head Nebula. For the Jelly Fish I shall crop it.

Sorry about your woes - as for me, I'll certainly "keep um coming" Thank you Another coming up

Adjustment to curves to reinstate some of the background nebulosity but I think it could be better still.

Firstly, here's IC 1396 post processed in Photoshop.

Drat!!! Instead of capturing an extra 200 Ha subs I did something wrong and didn't get them - been better if I left it to continue the first 200, instead of which I did what I've done on other nights and stopped the capture and restarted except this time it didn't restart it paused instead so I've only got 153 Ha subs At least most of those should be alright.