WolfieGlos

Wow, really nice! I'd dread to think how much time I'd need to capture this. vdb37 reminds me of Sauron from LOTR !

Thank you Sarek! Actually no, it wasn't hard to combine! For each of the 3 nights with the 102ED, I stacked them individually in ASTAP so the flat correction worked correctly. I then had 1 full stack of the 72ED from a year ago, stacked with Siril - both at the same ISO and using the same DSLR, and luckily, a similar rotation. I took those 4 stacks, and stacked them together in Siril (using an OSC with no DBF script) to stack them without calibrations. That was it. Nothing fancy! I wanted to see if it would work first of all, and I was pleasantly surprised at the result. I guess I may have lost some resolution using different focal lengths (570 vs 420), so in an ideal world I would gather more time with the 102ED and then compare. The only problem that I had which I didn't mention above, was that the 72ED suffered from some quite severe tilt which meant the combined stack duplicated stars in the corners - see below. So I removed them with Starnet and then added in the stars from a stack of the 3x stacks of 102ED data, so actually the stars in my image are "only" 8.5 hours worth of data. By eye, I couldn't tell any difference elsewhere in the image in the stars, but some tiny background galaxies have lost some data by doing this....not that I can resolve them anyway. Thanks tomato! I'm pleased you say that about the colour balance, I really struggled to get a result I liked with the colour. I think this was the 5th or 6th iteration, some were too blue, others too orange, or using Siril's PCC....brown. Yuck. I made a post on this a year ago trying to get colour in M33 if you recall, so I'm pleased you say that 🙂 Agreed on M31 being trickier than some may think, despite it being a "big beginners target", getting a good processed result I found to be more difficult than I had expected.

I actually wanted to focus on M78 in Orion this winter, and I started collecting data on it on 14th November. But as Orion was out of view until beyond midnight at the time (because of my stupid house being in the way! I have to wait until it's broadly south-east), I spent the first hours of that night collecting data on M31. I had no intention of imaging it this year, but it was visible, high above me and required no changing of filters so it seemed reasonable to go for. I last imaged this just over a year ago with my Evostar 72ED, this year I got closer in with the Starfield 102ED and so I intended to gather a lot of data to try and make a real good go of this understandably popular target. After collecting nearly 5 hours of data on that first night; exactly 1 month ago, I've only been able to collect 3.5 hours since for a total of 8.5 hours. To be fair, 8.5 hours on M31 produced a decent image, but I wanted the fainter outer bands so I decided to try combining with the 06:45 hours that I captured last year with the 72ED for a total of 15 hours! So here is the result. With what seems to be perma cloud cover for the coming weeks - and the coming Moon phase - I think I'll call this one done. Fairly happy with this, but for such a bright target in some ways I feel like I was expecting more for 15 hours of integration 🤷‍♂️ 170 x 180s with 102ED and 102 x 240s with 72ED, all ISO-400 with Canon 800Da. Stacked in ASTAP, processed in Siril / Starnet / Topaz / GIMP. Very minor star reduction outside of the galaxy; none within. EDIT: HaRGB version added

Really nice Wim, that new tool is working well. Did you use the same processing? I note the newer version has more stars - and I think it looks better for it 🙂

Well it is the festive time of year, but nobody likes odd star shapes! Last night I had a brief window in the clouds for a first trial run pairing my 585MC with a Canon 200mm f2.8 prime lens, primarily since it will gather data much faster than my main scope so I plan on using this for widefield imaging of nebulae. I've had the lens for a few years, used it for astro when I first started out and it was fairly easily to achieve focus with a DSLR, although the focus adjuster is VERY sensitive to move. I've had the 585mc for a few months, but this was first light with the lens. It worked fine with both my 72ED and 102ED. So, separately, both the lens and camera have worked - but this is the first time they have been used together. So after getting it all manually in focus last night, I was surprised to see my images producing star shapes like christmas trees (and no, I didn't leave the bahtinov mask on!) This was not in a corner, this was across the whole field. It did seem to improve slightly if I binned 2x2 and more with 3x3 but it was still there. Example fits files attached. I've been trying to understand the reasoning for this, it cannot be bad tracking or wind since these were 5s subs and it was riding on top of my SF102 whilst that was taking 120s subs....and the stars in those subs are round. The pixel size of the 585mc is 2.9µm , so with the lens I would definitely be undersampling - but is this what stars look like when undersampled? My only other thought is that I had a 2" Astronomik L2 UV/IR cut filter in the imaging train.....and after the session I found I still had a Hoya UV filter mistakenly screwed onto the front of the lens - could this actually be the culprit? My current forecast has no clear skies for a while, so any input appreciated so I can try next time 🙂 2023-12-15_01-52-56__8.30_5.00s_0000 1x1.fits 2023-12-15_01-49-44__8.70_5.00s_0000 3x3.fits 2023-12-15_01-50-17__8.60_5.00s_0000 2x2.fits

Holy moly, that would fix so many of my images with ease. That’s remarkable, and I’d be intrigued as to whether the stars get corrected back to their “correct location”? One of these days I’m going to have to invest in PI. I think they missed a trick though…surely it should be TiltExterminator 🤔 I wonder if this would work on trailed images too, such as a wind affected sub?

Just posted elsewhere, but I’ve just had nearly an hour outside, and by eye I observed 16 Geminids. Starting at 10:36 though until 11:15, they were all either next to Jupiter, near M45, in Auriga and a few over the top of Orion. Best time seemed to be as I went out, I caught 7 in 5 minutes and then went to get the camera. After setting it up, the remaining 9 started from 10:57.

I use my Zwo 120mm guide scope with asi 120mm mini for my Starfield 102, on a HEQ5. Works fine for me @Sarek . Guiding does naturally vary, generally I’m around 0.8rms but I’ve had it as low as 0.4 and worst (producing usable results) at 1.8 rms. That’s with 5 or 6 minute subs. Generally I’m imaging with an APSC DSLR , but it also worked well with my 585mc - albeit only once with 30s subs. Looks like we’ve taken a similar upgrade route from a 72ed! Good luck, you’ll love the Starfield 102, it’s a quality scope. I’ve even used it for a bit of planetary with a 2x Barlow on the 585mc. I did think about a Mak 127 sometime next year, so I’d be interested in seeing how you get on with the 150. And no, guiding not needed for planetary. Just very good GoTo with the small FOV.

Initially I was thinking M63, my first target with my new scope back in April. But given it’s been a rough year, the 54 hours I got on the heart and soul in a 6 panel mosaic is my choice. Better version and details in the link below.

Perhaps the (ASI) air ?

I was thinking along the lines of Psycho Mantis from Metal Gear .....

Personally, I see more the head of a hound than a horse! Fair play for imaging in those winds on Saturday, I decided against it due to the high winds...the monster of a hangover from a works xmas party had nothing to do with it... 😒 Stunning image, we really are being treated to some nice dusty Pacmans lately. Possibly pushed too far, but only if you zoom in .... and I wouldn't change it personally. Perhaps just add more data in due course?

Having not long completed a 6 panel in OSC, like Tomato, I applaud you trying this! Keep it up, it’ll be an incredible result at the end.

Wow, incredible detail in those dust lanes!

I'll start this one off then! That's some incredible data, a pleasure to work with so thanks to the IKO for sharing it. It might even convince me to get not only an astro camera but mono at that...... So here's my *first ever* mono processed image, processed as SHO. I decided not to crop or rotate the image, it looks to me like it's a hand of god juggling the crescent for fun. Stars were a problem in the corners and the right-hand side, so I tried to rectify them as best as possible. Processing details below. Processed in Siril, Starnet, Topaz and GIMP. Pixel Math R=(0.35*Ha)+(0.8*SII), G=(0.4*Ha)+(0.6*OIII), B=OIII Asinh Transformation: (stretch=1000.0, bp=0.00000) Histogram Transf. (mid=0.092, lo=0.022, hi=1.000) Save as Tiff file. Run through Starnet V2 Standalone. Open Starless Image in Siril GHS SAT pivot: 0.122, amount: 2.54, local: 0.00 [0.00 0.69] CLAHE (size=4, clip=1.00) Wavelets Transformation (2, 1.5, 1.5, 1.5, 1.5, 1.2) GHS pivot: 0.153, amount: 0.35, local: 0.30 [0.00 0.81] Cosmetic Correction Open STARLESS IMAGE IN GIMP S-curve to background Colour temperature adjustment to a warmer image Duplicate image, apply contrast boost. Black mask and brush in Soap Bubble, gaussian blur to blend in. New from Visible. Sharpen Boost, default settings at 54% opacity. EXPORT TO TOPAZ DENOISE. Standard model, 100 / 85 / 61 / 100 STAR PROCESSING Open Starless and original stretched image in GIMP. Use subtract mode to acquire stars image. Duplicate stars image, and using GIMP Astronomy Plugin (Georg Hennig: http://www.hennigbuam.de/georg/gimp.html ), use filter for Round Stars to change angles in left corner. Black mask, and brush in. Repeat for the other 3 corners Create "New from Visible". Copy layer into STARLESS NOISE-REDUCED IMAGE, blend mode of Screen For the star layer, apply slight curve enhancement for brightness

Nice image goran. I wonder what those other two objects are; south-east of MWP1 (looks like a very faint oval object) and also north-east appears to be a hazy green object.

Nice job Lee, snd 2 in a year even further south than me is great going 👏 We had clear skies on Friday right up until just before the Aurora alert came in. It totally misted over and didn’t clear all night and all day Saturday ☹️

Superb image Goran! I really like the “subdued” (for want of a better word) RGB colour of the Seahorse on one side vs the colours of the Bat and Squid on the other.

Thanks Elp. Hopefully the weather plays ball and you can finish those projects. Currently our forecast is terrible.

Haha, I bet that would have been somewhat overexposed at F2… I did try 10 minute subs a few years ago and ended up with horrible walking noise, perhaps a symptom of a DSLR. Not tried it since, I think the longest I’ve done is 6mins. Maybe I’ll try it with the 585mc when I get some clear skies and no moon.

Another way to do it, is if you are still in the returns period, see if you can return the flattener and spacers and get an adjustable flattener. I didn’t know of this, but it makes it a lot easier to figure out backfocus and will do away with taking apart your imaging train. I have this for my Starfield 102ed, and I thought FLO had a Stellamira version for the Evostar 72ed but I can’t find it at the moment. With regards to tilt, I tried these and had a little success. Something Like this would be better and can be fine tuned. I never fully fixed it with my 72ed, there’s a long thread here on SGL started by @AstroNebulee where we both (and others) tried to figure it out. He managed to sort it, I didn’t quite get there. As I recall, with my DSLR, it was supposed to be 55mm backfocus; I ended up with about 60 IIRC. Like Elp, I gave up caring and cropped the edges out. It’s definitely a frustrating issue, and one I left until a Full Moon was out….

Thank you Olly 🙂 Totally agree with the brightness of M42, I was more surprised that it picked up the detail and colour with the very bright Moon nearby, which was contrary to what you read online a lot. 15 minute subs? Wow, what scope was that with? Not the Rasa surely?

I got this with a 93% Moon last week: https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/416348-m42-full-moon-test-with-585mc/ I was quite surprised how well it came out with just a UV/IR cut. I've never tried a reflection nebula with a bright Moon, but I understand they suffer more than emission. Alternatively, star clusters. Try NGC 225 (Sailboat cluster) in Cassiopiea; it includes some reflection nebula so it would be a good test to see if it would work for you in the future, if you wanted to try M45 on a Moon affected night. Give it a go Lee, there's nothing to lose 🙂

It must just be me then! Since I set up for every session, the scope goes from being inside at circa 20 degrees, to outside ... at currently say 1 degree. Initial focus is circa 10 minutes after setup, so that's why I put it down to temperature. The focus doesn't change by a large amount, now I have the EAF it tends to register as small as 10 steps up to 40 at the worst. I'd dare say with a mask you wouldn't notice it; I just spot it in NINA's HFR reading creeping up from, say, from circa 2.1 to 2.6. A refocus sorts it out, and then that's it for the rest of the night. My initial thought for Mr Green, is that that might have happened too.

That's interesting, I hadn't ever considered that Elp. Although I use NINA with my EAF, I always focus on a bright star (from when I used to use a Bahtinov), and always on Polaris at the Home position. I then slew to the target and refocus within the first half hour - which I've always put down to temperature differences where the scope has acclimatised - which was going to be my suggestion to Mr Green. Whilst we know temperature does affect focus, I didn't consider the brightness of the star. Thanks, I'll try this myself. Just typical that with tonights clear sky that I'm off out...can't exactly cancel an anniversary meal 😒 It happens mate, AP is complicated and even now 2 years in, I'm still learning (see above!). We've all shot a whole night out of focus, found trails or cable snags.