tomato

Here is my effort, using the V2 Ha data. Processed in StarTools V1.7 first making a LRGB composite, then blending in the Ha using Ivo's tutorial, except I used the Distance option in the Layers module, rather than Lighten. Final adjustments in APP, mainly using the HSL tool to try and accentuate the dust lane details. The data is, as with previous sets, absolutely first class, I was hoping LRGB would be more straightforward than NB, but there is so much depth and detail, I don't know where to start and when to stop. The Ha data is amazing, so much going on at this wavelength in M33.

I connect PHD, calibrate etc, before connecting to NINA, I have a few issues with NINA, but PHD isn’t one of them. Re taking flats, I thought you could set the target %ADU, exposure time etc, with the sliders in the Flats Wizard? I suppose if the software cannot satisfy all of the target criteria, it is perhaps working to a hierarchy, hence that is why it won’t meet your set %ADU?

This is just over 8 hrs of data on NGC 3184, the Little Pinwheel Galaxy in Ursa Major, captured over the previous two nights with the dual Esprit 150/ASI 178 set up. The subs were superior on the first night but 4 hrs was not enough data, adding the inferior data from last night has improved the final result. Again, a host of more distant galaxies are present in the image, I have run it through PI Imagesolver and annotation scripts, but most are not identified. L 80 x 3 mins RGB 26 x 3 mins each channel. Calibrated and stacked in APP, processed in APP and AP. Thanks for looking.

Agreed, trying to guide through NB filters is not a good idea, you wont be detecting many stars through these filters on a 3 second exposure.

Hi, welcome to SGL. I would agree that the OAG should be in front of the filter wheel (ie closer to to the stars than the filters), filter aperture and sensor size are usually quite tight so you need your filters as close to the sensor as you can get to avoid serious vignetting.

I presume your FW and camera are in a screwed together arrangement on the focuser and so therefore must be reasonably centralised in the optical train? If so, is there perhaps some tilt/misalignment with your flats illumination source?

I must admit I generally cop out when I have duplicate equipment connection problems and run two laptops, but this of course prevents synchronised dithering. I have however, recently persevered with NINA and now have everything connected through one laptop and have synchronised dithering working. At one point when I was struggling I went back to SGP but had forgotten all the set up routines so wasted more precious clear sky time.

I have two Esprit 150s side by side on a central mounted pier in mine, you couldn’t hold a star party in there that’s for sure, and things are a bit tight up in the dome when slewing, but that is because I have extended dew shields and lasers mounted up near the top of the aperture.

I think you can tell a decent Horsehead/Flame image by the level of dust detail below the Horsehead 'curtain' and you have plenty there. I also like the dark dust feature at about 11 o' clock, looks like it is leaving a wake as it moves through the Cosmos.

There will be better qualified folks than me on SGL to advise you on the specification, but your proposed set up sounds good to me. SSD is definitely the way to go for your processing access drive, I use mech drives for archive storage. As regards (online) suppliers, based only on my one-off purchase, I can recommend PC Specialist, comprehensive choice of components, easy to configure your machine, I was kept fully informed of the assembly and despatch process and PC arrived promptly and well packaged. StarTools now uses the GPU processing capacity, and it certainly speeds things up.

Yes, bolt together on flat faces is the way to go. I'm always concerned by the meagre couple of threads on the nosepiece that holds my EFW2 in place.

Thanks for the comment. To be fair the moon was not too obtrusive for the first half of the session, but I agree LRGB imaging would be a challenge under these conditions.

My dome is not heated so the camera is at ambient temperature when I switch on the cooler. I set the cool down time to 10 minutes, which so far has not caused any icing problems.

I have the colour version and have run this at -20 degrees C on a number of sessions to date, no icing issues so far. No desiccant tube attached, camera is in a dome.

Yet another clear sky last night (4 in a row, what's happening?) but with the moon up still forced to do NB imaging, so had a look at the Rosette Nebula as this will soon be too low for imaging from my location. 5 hours on the dual rig, 2.5 hrs 7nm Ha with Esprit 150/0.77 focal reducer/G2-8300 and 2.5 hrs Esprit 150, NBZ filter and QHY268c. I must have a dozen versions of processed data, I'm afraid I just can't get my head around false colour palettes, what makes one better then another? At least with LRGB there is a general consensus of what is 'correct'. Anyway, here are 3 versions, as defined by Startools the first is H(H+O) duoband 100R, 50R+25G+25B+50G+50B, the second is HOO 100R, 50G+50B, 50G+50B and the third is a creation I confess I lost track of. I prefer the nebulosity colour on the third, but the stars are the wrong colour. Thanks for looking

Much as I would like an IMX 571 mono camera to go with my OSC version on the dual Esprit rig, I have gone for a budget alternative and purchased a SW 0.77 Focal reducer to go on one scope and put the trusty G2-8300 on it and the OSC camera on the other, giving a reasonably similar FOV. So this is just over 12 hrs on B33, taken over the last 3 moonlit nights, with the CCD taking Ha with a 7nm Baader filter, and the OSC capturing through the IDAS NBZ dual band filter. Its a bit of a mash up on the channels, using Startools I assigned the Ha to the Lum channel, channel extracted the dual band data and used the red and green channels. Calibrated and stacked in APP, processed in Startools and Affinity Photo. Thanks for looking.

Thanks for the pointers on processing dual NB data. The format worked well I thought, numbers were down maybe, but it did coincide with a clear night. I have participated in similar open discussions and they can sometimes stray off for long periods into general chit-chat but tonight’s stayed on topic. And a LRGB galaxy image coming from the IKI Observatory, good stuff!👍

I think the inverse law generally applies, the more cloudy nights, the more people look at new/better kit and then make purchases. I know I have spent more on Astro kit in the last 12 months than the previous 2 years put together. Of course, if the hopeless weather persists with no respite, then the law will break down at some point, and then the S/H market will be flooded with stuff. But for me it only takes a few clear nights such as we are experiencing now (albeit with a full moon) to keep me going through the next few cloudy periods.

Who says you can’t image under a full moon? These are both excellent results IMHO, undoubtedly your perseverance and dedication have helped enormously in collecting that much data. To put it into some sort of perspective, your M51 is better than one I captured a while ago from a moonless Bortle 3 sky while on holiday, but my total integration time was only 30 mins.

I suppose that if your globular cluster filled your FOV, some databases might not contain the data on the individual cluster stars and would fail to solve, but if you have a surrounding star field in the image I see no reason why it wouldn’t solve just like a galaxy or planetary nebula image.

Thanks Dave, will give your method a try. The Horsehead is about to dip below the lip of my dome aperture for the second night in row, strange times...

The imaging camera is a good old G2-8300, my QHY268c is on the other standard Esprit. The star shapes don't look too bad in the corners on the CCD but a bit of fine tuning on the spacing is still needed. I cobbled it all together in a bit of a hurry with the promise of a few clear (moonlit) nights, so I should try adjusting the prism.

I've recently fitted the SW 0.77 Focal reducer/Flattener to an Esprit 150 and the star shapes on my OAG camera now resemble baked beans, they were much better with just the SW F/F installed. Given that I cannot easily relocate the OAG in the optical train I guess all I can do is move the prism in as far as I can, but this wont be much given that I am taking advantage of the increased FOV. PHD seems to guide OK on a Bean Star so I can live with it, but it just looks terrible on the screen.

I received a very prompt response on the NINA forum, it looks like a bug in the ASCOM driver which I will report to MI. The comment was made that they might not bother to fix it now we are in the CMOS era which made me feel kind of sad and nostalgic for CCDs. Getting mournful over semi-conductors, dear oh dear...

Thanks, I’ve found the option to turn off debayering in NINA, but as you say, it might cause problems down the road if the FITS header says it is a colour image. I will post the finding on Discord.