tomato

On the face of it the red stack looks like it has got swapped for the Lum stack, but if you processed each channel separately it’s hard to see how this could happen. Why is the red stack taking much longer to process, are the integration times the same for the RGB channels?

I’m not much of a planetary imager but I think I can recognise a great image of Uranus when I see one.👍

I’ve attached a rough library image of the group, the structure in NGC 7549 is definitely there, and you have captured more faint outer structure than appears in the library photo. The background is more uneven in your image but I wonder have you gone deep enough to capture any IFN in this region? Either way, respect for capturing this target under our hopeless UK skies.👍

There is some nice detail in there for 4 hrs integration. It is just my own view but I think you could maybe boost the colour saturation a little bit to bring out the blues in the spiral arms, but best done on a starless image as I think the stars are good as they are.

Thanks for this, I am a Chemist by training but mostly saw it as a means to an end of furthering my career. I sure I would have found it more interesting if I could have attended a few lectures like the one you have described.

Nice shot, reminds me of what we used to get in the emulsion film era.

Here is the spec on the desktop PC I decided on for image processing back in 2020, I use PI quite a lot on this machine: Case: PCS GENESIS G1B CASE + SD CARD READER Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Eight Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.4GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4) Motherboard: ASUS® PRIME B450-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.1, 6Gb/s) - RGB Ready RAM: 32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (2 x 16GB) GPU: 4GB AMD RADEONTM RX 550 - HDMI, DVI - DX® 12 Primary storage: 512GB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 450MB/W) Secondary storage: 2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE power supply: CORSAIR 450W CV SERIESTM CV-450 POWER SUPPLY 1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead) PCS FrostFlow 100 V2 Series High Performance CPU Cooler (AMD) STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD) WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS I would agree with more capacity on the SSD, I have also bought additional HDDs for external storage, I don’t delete any processing data files.

Great image, dual rigs certainly ratchet up the integration times, but hats off to you if you are setting this up each night.

I would have a go at photographing the moon, it is bright enough for your metering system on the camera to work. Before you proceed further see if you can get hold of a copy of “Making Every Photon Count” by Steve Richards. It covers all the fundamentals of astro photography and will set you on the right track. I think it is fair to say that astro photography requires a very different approach to terrestrial photography.

There you go, the easiest bit of post processing I’ve ever done.

Thanks, but I thought there is no up in space? Folks rarely present the Horsehead Nebula “the right way up”.

One further and final version, the sun is streaming through my window so no more rainy day processing.

Those are brilliant first time images👍You will be getting into post processing next to fix the over exposed core on M42, there are lots of tutorials on YT on this depending on what software you are using. The ASI 2600 is a top notch camera, and this camera and other versions based on the same sensor makes it probably the most popular dedicated Astro camera out there but it still comes with a hefty price tag. If the budget is tight you might consider a CCD Astro camera based on the Kodak 8300 sensor. Sure it is now ‘old tech’ and requires a guided mount for the longer exposures but it has been responsible for many award winning Astro images.

So here is V2, using SPCC for the colour calibration. Definitely less magenta now, but the galaxy still seems a bit too muted somehow, at least for my tastes.

Yes, it is too magenta, I corrected the green with curves rather than SCNR, but I am going to have another go with SPCC now that I have managed to image solve it in PI.

Not at all, I'll take a look.

With no hope of acquiring new data while the grey skies persist, I have returned to my favourite galaxy processing exercise, M31. This is around 15 hrs of old data from the RASA8/IMX571, some dual band data with the NBZ filter and a 6 panel mosaic using the Esprit 150/IMX571. Processed predominately in PI, it still doesn't look right, (overall too cold and 'thin' looking?), but I've come to the conclusion that M31 is a difficult target to get right.

Spectacular! Great work with the array of different scope and camera combinations. 👍🏼

It looks good and I’m sure it is well designed. I think it will be fine for the size of the intended scope but I confess I wouldn’t trust a big scope on a scaled up version. But then I’m an old school metal worker who also dug a cubic metre out for my pier foundation.

Yeah, there is no getting around that it is a big commitment financially. Despite the terrible UK weather I know I want to have kit at home while I can physically still go out and use it, but the FLO pricing model is the next best thing to shipping my own gear out to Spain. I really like the notion of logging on and imaging a chosen target without having to join a queue or limiting how much integration time I spend on it. The rolling month option although more expensive allows me to dip my toe in the water and see if it would work for me, those Southern sky targets are a big temptation also. I’m now starting to monitor cloud cover in Southern Spain, I’ll keep you posted.

Here is the link to their website: https://www.remoteobservatory.com/ They appear to have a number of 90mm APO rigs set up, but I’m interested in one of their 8” RC rigs when they become available. I’ll post my experiences on SGL, but I think it will be in new year before it happens.

Great mosaic, thanks for posting your first image, I remember the buzz I got from my first M31, even though it was just the core that was visible.

FLO do have remote imaging, based at Pixel Skies in Southern Spain. It’s called Remote Observatory, I have made enquiries…

But it is worth persevering with as unless I’m mistaken most objects in the sky will be visible to you at some point in the year, but not Polaris!

Nice one, I love the great white shark that appears just right of bottom centre at 0.05 seconds in....👍