ollypenrice

That's sensational! I've never seen a PN like this before, let alone seen this one. What an absolute glory. Bravo! Image of the Year for me. Olly

Have you looked in Device Manager to see whether the PC thinks the camera is already running? I've had this quite a few times with my filterwheel though not with my camera. Olly PS Windows no longer supporting Win7 sounds like a huge advantage to me, provided the machine doesn't go on the internet any more.

My own effort had about 14 hours. https://www.astrobin.com/full/383965/0/ It's faint. It does have a nice Ha background, too, for a modded camera, but that's optional! There are two other specific problems: the first are geostationary satellites which abound in this area so a good sigma clip stacking routine and a lot of subs are essential. The second, which may or may not afflict you, is flare from Rigel out of shot. If you get this problem the solution may be to make some 'repair' panels, with fewer subs than your main image, with the scope pointing somewhat closer to Rigel. Once in shot, or almost in shot, Rigel may not create flares. It is very common to find flares from stars out of shot which vanish when the star is in shot. It's a tough one but a thriller to work on. Go for it. Olly

A shed is not just for Christmas, it's for life. lly

Shame you're having issues. Sorry to hear it. I certainly do think your brighter star looks hexagonal and the smaller ones don't somehow look quite right, though I can't see them as hexagonal myself. Your 'six clips' theory also strikes me as making sense. I'm sure FLO will look after you, though. Olly

Beautiful image. Stunning. Olly

That's worked a treat. Often the HOO palette makes the OIII too green for my taste. Olly

The Aurora panels are amongst the worst pieces of trash I've had the misfotune to buy. The wires break at either or both ends in no time. The only reason I've had three of them fail on me is that two of them were bought by other people for me to use here on their behalf. Once was enough for me! The adustable brightness Geoptik panels, on the other hand, have proved robust and the variable brightness does make life easier. Olly

Missed this one! Sorry, Barry, it's very attractive. I did see Steve's on Astrobin. The orientation really does make a big difference, as Goran says. Olly

Have you tried not adjusting it back after this happens? Just proceed to the next alignment star? Olly

Bravo! Something new and more than a little interesting. Olly

If the infallible fully automated mosaic software exists I have yet to meet it. Personally I make mosaics by removing gradients in the panels using Pixinsight's DBE and then I build an initial linear mosaic using Registar buit keep the Registar-adjusted individual panels to use as patches in Photoshop if neecessary. 1) Edge crop the linear panels and give them to Registar to build an initial mosaic. Save. 2) Save all the registered/calibrated panels as well for use as 'patches' if necessary. 3) Photshop or similar: give the Registar mosaic an initial stretch, not necessarily going all the way but far enough to show edge defects while recording this stretch as an action. 4) Identify an edge defect and open the 'patch' panel from Registar which will cover it. Apply the Action stretch to it. It should now be nearly identical to the area you want to patch. Slide it into place over the mosaic as a Layer, adjust it slightly in Levels if necessary, and simply use a feathered eraser to remove everything but the part covering the edge defect. 5) Flatten and continue to the final stretch. Olly

Well done, Dave. This is a lovely object but rather a shy one as well! Olly

Exquisitely delicate processing. Real finesse. Olly

Nice one. The two bright stars above the main nebula, both surrounded by faint nebulosity, indicate VdB 14 and 15 and will reward a bit of selective processing or more time. The colourful open cluster embedded in the Sharpless nebula is Stock 23, AKA Pazimo's Cluster. Olly

Great to see you posting again, Nando. This is exquisite in its tiny details. Nice one. Olly

Mosaics: one reason I like Registar is that, although it will not always make invisible seams itself, it will allow you, very easily, to repair them. This is my method... 1) Edge crop the linear panels and give them to Registar to build an initial mosaic. Save. 2) Save all the registered/calibrated panels as well for use as 'patches' if necessary. 3) Photshop or similar: give the Registar mosaic an initial stretch, not necessarily going all the way but far enough to show edge defects while recording this stretch as an action. 4) Identify an edge defect and open the 'patch' panel from Registar which will cover it. Apply the Action stretch to it. It should now be nearly identical to the area you want to patch. Slide it into place over the mosaic as a Layer, adjust it slightly in Levels if necessary, and simply use a feathered eraser to remove everything but the part covering the edge defect. 5) Flatten and continue to the final stretch. I've yet to find an infallible mosaic maker, especially if working with linear panels intended for a hard stretch. This 'patching' method might also be possible in other software provided the component panels going into the mosaic can be individually saved. Olly

That's really two pictures in one, both stunning. The small one posted here is beautifully balanced and natural whereas the full res is something you explore a bit at a time with wonderful tiny details to discover. Great stuff Pieter. I'd encourage other members to check out your website, too, for unusual targets superbly imaged. Olly

True, but this glosses over the extraordinary effects of marketing and the devious skills of those who manage it... Olly

A long time, I hope. It's interesting, it is not party-political and members are sharing insights and expertise. Olly

The Ps authors do try to put a bizzare logic into some of the shortcuts. Curves is m which has two curves in it as a shape. Then there's satUration, repeat last Filter, colour Balance, Levels, etc. I find that if you spot the logic (I'll accept that m is a bit tenuous!!!) you can remember them. Another big time saver is to save some routines as Actions. I do this for things like the Lab colour trick and the soft light colour trick. Olly

Alas not, Dave. The two hours was just for the comet which we dropped onto an existing 19 hour Flaming Star. Olly

The Tak 106/Kodak 11 Meg gives 3.5 arcsecs per pixel and, as Dave says, has more APODs than you can shake a stick at. You are welcome to zoom in on mine as much as you like. Fine resolution is lost but there are no screaming artifacts like square stars. This is a tiny crop of the Flaming star from a widefield image so you can see it at full size. This is 3.5"PP so I really don't see what you need to worry about at 2.29. The full image is here. https://www.astrobin.com/394025/?nc=user Olly

The heartbeats of image processing... lly

You're not alone: I spent a week locked in humorous conflict with an SGL guest who preferred to scroll through the menus rather than use the shortcuts! Personally I like them but my hands are too small for one or two of the three fingered variants. In the next life I'm going to be taller... Olly