mightymonoped

1 hour ago, TiffsAndAstro said:

I'm new ish to astrophotography so not sure of the technical terms but I wonder how you stretch both parts of the mosaic equally/to match each other. Not asking for an explanation but is there a key term or search phrase I can use? 

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It’s a little bit more involved than just stretching and then merging. The mosaic ‘panels’ are merged while they are in their ‘linear’ (pre-stretched) state using Astro Pixel Processor. In terms of a workflow, I do the following:-

integrate panel 1 (narrowband)

integrate panel 2 (narrowband)

integrate panel 1 & 2 as mosaic (narrowband)

process (stretch and process) narrowband mosaic. 
 

integrate panel 1 (broadband)

integrate panel 2 (broadband)

integrate panel 1 & 2 as mosaic (broadband)

process (stretch and process) broadband mosaic. 

register narrowband and broadband mosaics against each other (in APP)

save registered mosaics (NB and BB)

strip stars from NB Mosaic and save starless NB image  

strip stars from BB Mosaic and save Stars from BB image

merge Stars from BB image with Starless NB Mosaic  

6 minutes ago, TiffsAndAstro said:

That's some incredible detail on the brain

Thanks, I have access to good skies but have to do a lot of local fighting re: the light pollution from the car park.

5 Hours of HOO data plus 2 hours of RGB stars captured over three nights under challenging light pollution but good skies (Bortle 4) from my apartment balcony.

Captured using Skywatcher 80ED Pro (Gold Edition) guided by WO Redcat 51 using ASIair Pro.

ASI294MC Pro -10C unity gain

EQ6-R Pro

Optolong l-eNhance and L-Pro for Narrowband and Broadband honours.

Integrated as 2 separate mosaics using Astro Pixel Processor

Processed in Pixinsight

Finished and Merged in Photoshop CC

Lost a lot of the BB data due to field rotation but the main stuff is there.

Tony

NGC6888 - The Crescent Nebula

A 2 panel mosaic of roughly 5 hours capture in HOO. 

The detail shows the extremely feint Soap Bubble nebula as a bonus! 

SW 80 ED Pro
ASI294 mc pro 
EQ6-R Pro

Processed in APP, Pixinsight and Photoshop CC

Tony

It’s still just one of many tools for me too. I generally always finish of things in Photoshop tbh as I am still more comfortable putting the final touches in place there. 

32 minutes ago, Ouroboros said:

I can well imagine because the crescent nebula is very bright and bringing up the surrounding hydrogen must be a challenge. 

GHB-Stretch in Pixinsight is a great tool for selective stretching without blowing out other areas, I’m still getting to grips with it but it’s well worth the effort. 

1 hour ago, carastro said:

Great widefield Tony. 

Thanks Carole! 

8 hours ago, Pld said:

Lovely image.

Thank you! 😊

1 hour ago, Ouroboros said:

Marvellous wide field view. There’s a lot there isn’t there? 

There certainly is! 😊 Took a few goes to bring it out though. 

Complete rework of the area around Sadr in Cygnus. 

Captured and processed as HOO. 
Samyang 135mm f2 
Optolong l-eNhance 
EQ6-R Pro
ASIair Pro
 

Tony

Complete reprocess of this one. Thought I'd have a play with combining the initial stretch with a cloned version using HDRMultiscaleTransform (in Median mode) to see if I could get the best of both worlds to retain some detail in M42 core. Then used GHB-Stretch to bring out some of the detail and final colour processing in PS CC before remerging the stars.

About 2 hours worth of data with the Redcat 51.

Tony

Decided I wasn't happy with any version of this I have processed, so decided to have another go. Previous versions all feel forced to me now, I wanted to process a version that keeps as much data in the core as possible but without forcing the stars and losing some of the natural feel.

I was happy enough with the integrations in Ha and Oiii, just the processing that needing sorting so I took the two Fits and registered them against each other before merging as HOO and neutralising and cropping before taking into PI. Ran GraXpert before all else then BlurX, NoiseX and a gentle version of Bill Blanshan's stretching before StarX.

Then played with the Starless using HDR MultiScale Transform (as Median transform) & GHB Stretch.

Remerged stars temporarily to use BB's Star Reduction Script before separating them again and taking them both into Photoshop for final touches and remerge.

Tony

Finished it! finally managed to grab two panels worth of RGB for this mosaic so that it can have proper star colour. 
Both Broadband and Narrowband images were completely processed separately before registering against each other. Then I stripped out the narrowband stars and merged the broadband stars with the narrowband nebulosity. 
2-panel mosaic with 4 sets of data captured by Samyang 135mm f2. 

No star reduction on this puppy, the stars are half the story in this image. 😊

Tony

I managed to grab another panel of just under 2 hours worth of HOO tonight and made a rushed attempt at merging it with my previous panel of Cone and Rosette Nebulae Widefield in HOO.

Next stage will be to grab a couple of RGB panels of the stars using about an hour per panel but using a much shorter exposure. 

Integrated and mosaic in APP

Processed in PI and PS CC

Samyang 135mm at f2.8
Optolong l-eNhance
ASI294mc pro -10C unity gain
EQ6-R Pro

Tony

Just out of frame I believe. Didn't want to change the frame as I already had flats to cover.

Tony

Cleaned up the gradients a bit with GraXpert..

Tony

A couple of opportunistic grabs. First hour in RGB using the L-Pro with the Samyang 135mm f2. the second session an additional hour with the l-eNhance to grab some Ha to add to the RGB.

Only 2 hours worth in total so not exactly noiseless but I quite like seeing these nebulae in a wide field backdrop for context.

Processed in APP, PI (with GraXpert) and Photoshop to finish.

Tony

Have been waiting to try this for a while but never had clear sky early enough in the evening to grab any decent data before the balcony obstructs.

Last night was my first chance, so I went for it and managed to get a good two hours worth of Narrowband with the Samyang 135 at f2.8

To be honest it's turned out just as I imagined it would, if not better.

Minimal faffing around really. Integrated in APP then slight frame crop before running GraXpert in PI. Then StarX before NoiseX and BlurX (minimal on stars only this time). Bill Blanshan's stretch on both before recombining (after some noodling) in Photoshop CC.

Tony

Redid this one for the holidays, using all the new toys!

2.5 hrs of narrowband with an hour of RGB stars using the trusty old SW 80ED Pro. 
 

Tony

This is a combined integration of 4.5 hours worth of data from the Samyang 135mm and Redcat 51

It's a real mix of exposures from a heap of 60s to a handful of 300s

Have tried to minimise the damage from those pesky satellite trails that plague this part of the sky.

Rigel is a bit of a mess so I may try to sort that later with masking or some such.

Tony

Managed to grab nearly two hours worth of RGB with the Samyang 135 (@f2.8) so this is first attempt at merging with Ha data from the other night. 
 

Used a very clumsy attempt at the GAME script masking tool to try to retain some colour in the Flame and Running Man (and the Orion). 
 

Not really happy yet but it’s a start. 
 

Tony

I'll be looking to do the RGB capture properly with the Samyang 135mm as soon as I get a relatively moonless night clear (chance would be a fine thing).

In the meantime, I thought I would hack together a combination of the two-hour Redcat RGB capture with the two-hour's worth of narrowband I captured lat night with the Samyang 135mm f2 (at f2.8).

Had to throw everything but the kitchen sink at this to deal with the 'mosaic' edges and resultant difference in gradients etc but merging the RGB and NB captures in Astro Pixel Processor as a 'mosaic' seemed to give something usable which after rotating and cropping could be subject to GraXpert and then combined 50/50 with the NB only image I had already processed. I registered both against each other and combined in Photoshop before doing final bit of fiddling. 

This is a 50% reduction as the actual image is a bit of a whopper.

Tony

20 minutes ago, AstroMuni said:

This is a BOGOF deal for Black Friday. Beautiful !

Thanks! 😊

1 hour ago, maw lod qan said:

That's amazing! All in the field of view.

Thanks! 😊

11 minutes ago, Mandy D said:

Awesome!

Thank you! 🙂