Mike73

@teoria_del_big_bang Steve just wanted to say what a great post this was, real food for thought. 👍 I'II come back to this thread when I have more time.

Thankyou Tomato. Yes I've ran star reduction in Photoshop as I felt the star field was too rich but the stars were quite small anyway, there was just too many of them and I felt they hid the nebulosity. Whether the small star size has anything to do with the filters I just couldn't say. My effective focal length of the Redcat and 1600 is just shy of 500mm so quite wide. I was a little tempted to add RGB for star colour and keep the star field but again the stars are so small anyway I didn't really see much point. I've moved onto a different object(s) tonight which is pretty exciting, I quite like the idea of returning to the Veil next year to add more data or maybe start fresh?

Thanks Dave. I've got to be honest and say that I havent even dived into learning about SNR yet although I have a rough idea (very rough!) but with the forecast this weekend it looks like I'II have plenty of time to learn. All seems very confusing right now. The effect of different types and filter strengths, how moon and LP strength effects SNR. So many questions!

I think their are only two versions, one which needs 12v and the newer one which needs a 5v supply, the 5v one can be powered and controlled via a ASIAir.

Thanks Steve. I used PI for the bulk of the editing only turning to PS for the final touch ups and colour correcting although I did watch a Cuiv the Lazy Geek video last night which showed how its done in PI. One step at a time though my little brain can only take so much! 😂 Thanks Alan. Its such a great object I wanted to do it justice, so much to learn in AP its almost been overwhelming at times but also very enjoyable.

Thanks. I use a Redcat 51 and ASI 1600 on a HEQ5

This is my second image since I started in the summer, well to be honest its more like the fourth object I've attempted but had some problems with my camera which lasted nearly 2 months and also made a ton of rookie errors along the way so I'm classing this as my second 'finished' image. I kinda like it, in fact I'm really happy with it but I'm now at the point of deciding how far I want to take it? I'm in no rush to move on to another target but at the same time I dont want waste precious clear nights for small returns on it. So basically if I want to pick out the finer nebula behind Pickerings triangle should I just keep going? Any constructive criticism welcome. 5 1/2 hrs of Ha 3 1/2 hrs of Oiii Equipment used in my signature.

I'm pretty happy with both my Ha and Oiii considering how bright Sadr is. The screenshots are both Ha. At first I did think the Ha had a funny halo but it looks like its Sadr reflecting on gas.

Wow just look at all those Ha regions! 19 hours of well spent time, very nice image! So what did you use OSC or mono?

Yep I completely understand. The last couple weeks have been frustrating with part cloudy conditions and those clouds always appear just as you've got your guiding settled😂. When I was a visual observer I just didn't understand imaging, couldn't see the point of it when if I wanted to see what an object looks like I'd just Google it but at the end of the day whether you enjoy visual or imaging you do it because you enjoy astronomy. After taking a break from it for a few years I realised just how fortunate and a enjoyable hobby it is no matter what you do, I think you've just got to go with your gut on this one. Anyway........😉🤣

One of my favourite objects visually and a rare one that I could make out any colour (just a slight green cast though). This is going to look great with some Oiii.

I've just been looking back through it, what a blast from the past. 🙂

@Lee_P I've only just noticed your post. I used to sketch my observations but unfortunately the majority were done through either a 12" or 16" but if I can help in anyway I gladly will. I think I sketched around 300 objects in total but definitely completed all the Messiers most of the Caldwell's but the NGC list beat me 😂.

Looks awesome Steve, really nice colour choice in the second image. I've recently bought the full PI and loving it so far although I'm taking it slowly and really trying to learn each process/script before moving on (expect to see a completed image sometime at the end of 2025😂). Right now I've got as far as Pixelmath and coming from a long time Photoshop user PI is getting weird but I'II keep pressing on. Hope you are well mate.👍

What an absolutely cracking M27 all that integration time was completely worth it. A real treat for the eyes this, well done!

@davew thanks for the kind words Dave. I may well give that app a try at some point just for the sake of experiment although the Rough tor image has been printed and its on the wall now. I'm also up to my eyeballs in Pixinsight tutorials right now and any more information and I'm pretty sure I'II blow! 🤣 @AstroNebulee Yes its a cracking walk on a nice day and your images show that. I'm struggling to find decent locations to image from which will offer some shelter from the wind, I'd appreciate and hints if you know of any? 👍 @Stu nice to hear from you Stu. Well I put astronomy on hold for a couple years, did some other things but all the time if I could have a penny for every time I looked up at a clear sky and said 'I wish I still had a telescope' I'd have a few quid by now. So I've come back to SGL but this time as an.......imager 😬. I'm really enjoying it though, so much to learn! When my wallet has recovered I may buy a little Tal just for planetary and open cluster views.

Thanks for the nice comment and I'm VERY envious of where you live...Thats all I can say!

Thanks Paul. I do like how air glow looks its just that its an absolute nightmare to correct for colour balance when editing. Usually its just a case of boosting saturation to 100% and finding an even spread of yellow, magenta and blue across the sky but with strong air glow that doesn't work. Like you said in my other thread its a nice problem to have though.

A couple more images from this summer..... This first one is from a night on Rough Tor which is on Bodmin Moor, I'm pretty sure its the second highest point in Cornwall although if you live in the Lakes or the Scottish Highlands you'd probably call it a speed bump. 😂 It does get dark though, I havent got my SQM meter any more but I used to observe about a mile away so a few years ago I was getting nearly 21.8 SQM. I've seen air glow a lot of times in my images usually from either here or West Cornwall but this is by far the most intense. I havent boosted saturation or vibrance to get these colours in fact I've decreased saturation and just tweaked the curves for the sky. Nikon Z6 - 20mm f/1.8S on a Move Shoot Move tracker. Sky - 4x 2 min Foreground 4x focused stacked So this next image is just a couple miles from my home and is overlooking the River Tamar to Plymouth. Its around 20.2 SQM which is Bortle 4 at best but probably more like Bortle 5. A pretty picture but c'mon Plymouth do you really need all those lights!! 😂 Nikon Z6 - 20mm f/1.8 S with Move Shoot Move tracker. Single image for foreground and single 2 min tracked for sky.

What a great image! As John and Paul mention its got a lovely atmosphere to it.

Thanks Paul. Its about an 1 3/4 hr drive for me to get to west Cornwall but I love it down there so outside of holiday season I'm down there a lot. As you say there are just so many beautiful astro landscape possibilities, if you need any hints for great places to shoot then please drop me a message anytime. I saw your image of the Sennen look out hut and you mentioned zodiacal light, I had to google it as I didn't know what it was so I may or may not have seen it at some point?! The only problem with it being so dark in west Cornwall the green air glow you can sometimes see when looking out to sea. You can't se it with the naked eye but it makes colour balancing your images very tricky.

Inspired by seeing other peoples beautiful wide field images here I'm going to add a few of mine taken over the last 6 months all taken across Cornwall. This first one is from Kynance Cove which is at the Lizard and is the UK's most southerly point. It gets very dark here at around 21.7 SQM and was one of my old haunts when I was observing but on this night the moon was rising at 2am so rather than simply attempt a standard Milky Way image I thought I'd try and capture the point that the MW slowly fades away as the moon rose behind me. The cliffs here are quite high, maybe 200ft or so and as the moon rose in altitude the shadows from the cliffs were cast on the rocky islands. Nikon Z6 with 20mm f/1.8 S 1x foreground image with 4x2 min stacked for the sky using a Move Shoot Move tracker. This second image is of Rame Head close to where I live, its a bit of a local landmark so I made this image as a present for my sister. Its probably around 5 miles as the crow flies from Plymouth City Centre so its not very dark at around 21.2 SQM but still dark enough to see big objects like the North America nebula, Lagoon nebula and M31 with the naked eye. Nikon Z6 with 20mm f/1.8 S x4 focus stacked images for the foreground and 6x2 minute exposures for the sky with the Move Shoot Move tracker.

Would be good to see how Astrodon and Chroma fair on Sadr?

It’s near the old Davidstow airstrip and yes lots of places to park/camp. 👍

North Cornwall for the night. Last time I was here (about 6 years ago) I was observing, now it’s imaging. My old SQM readings for this place was around 21.8 mag.