cuivenion

Cracking first image! There's an excellent tutorial for pixinsight processing using M31 as an example here: https://www.lightvortexastronomy.com/tutorial-example-m31-andromeda-galaxy---dslr.html#Section1 As you get more into Pixinsight you will want to change the workflow to suit your own image. I don't know how you've got on with taking flats but I found this guide invaluable: https://www.myastroscience.com/proper-flats-with-dslr

Thanks Vlaiv. I just need some clear skies now.

Thanks Vlaiv. I was going to use the HDR combination tool in Pixinsight, it's seems like that will be easier to get my head around than the pixel math method. I have the commitment but not the brains unfortunately. I'm unused to messing around with pixel values.

I'm wanting to try out HDR processing to get the best out of stars and galaxy cores etc. Should total integration time for the shorter subs equal that of the longer ones? Are there any good guides out there for HDR imaging?

Great image.

Thanks David, I can see what you're saying. Annoyingly the lines aren't in the first image, maybe my second star mask was a bit lacking. I've found it quite difficult to get a decent star mask as the stars go right to the core and I'm having trouble getting the mask to pick those stars up, so I've boosted the white point of the mask which may have been a mistake. What setting do you use in MT? I've been using Morphological Selection.

Hi, thanks david. Yes I did use MT, the stars really dominate the image otherwise, at least for this image.

Thanks Martin, yeah dithering was taking up about 40-60 seconds between shots. I may try dithering every 2-3 shots in future sessions.

Had another go. Brought in the black point, used more noise reduction, balanced the colour and lowered the colour saturation. I think I'll mark this as finished and move on to the Pleiades that I was imaging the same night.

Both the images are great, diffraction spikes are greatly reduced in the starnet image. Thanks for posting about starnet, I hadn't heard of that. I tried using Stratton but it did weird things to the stars.

Cheers Tim, very kind words.

Thanks guys, cozzy I do tend to push data a bit to much. I'll definitely revisit it.

Cheers guys. With the background I think I use to clip it too much in the past, and use to much noise reduction. I'll give it another look.

This is my first image with my recently aquired Canon EOS 600D. Imaging Camera: Canon EOS 600D Scope: 200mm Takumar F4 Lens stopped down to about 5.4 Mount: Skywatcher HEQ5 Guiding: Altair GPCAM Colour and Finderguider Software: Backyard EOS, Sharpcap, PHD2, EQMOD, CDC, Pixinsight (Stacking and Processing) This is 141 x 2 minute lights of M31 taken over three nights last week, with 50 flats taken per night (with bias). Three moonless clear nights in a row! I've decided against using darks as I've dithered between every frame. I'm pretty happy with the 600D and I'm going to get it modded soon. At some point I might try Martin Pyotts peltier cooling design on it. Let me know what you think, comments welcome as usual.

Fantastic image.

Hi, That's a great image. Here's a set of tutorials I found very helpful when I first started using Pixinsight: https://www.lightvortexastronomy.com/tutorials.html

I keep all my software updated. The problem with using older operating systems is eventually you end up with your software not being supported. I've only ever run into one problem with W10 and that was to do with how it handled Bluetooth. I've never understood the hate to be honest I've always found it to be a rock solid OS.

What with one thing and another including I must admit, some lost motivation, I've not done any imaging since February. Glad to be back though :). This is the capture and processing info: Mount: Skywatcher HEQ5 Scope: Skywatcher 130pds Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI224 Guiding: Altair GPCAM colour with Finderguider Capture Software: Sharpcap and PHD2 Stacking/Processing: Deep Sky Stacker and Pixinsight This is the Deer Lick group in Pegasus, 3 hours of 90 second exposures over Tuesday and Wednesday night: Conditions weren't great so I'm fairly happy with the result. It's a target I might add some more data too and reprocess at some point. Comments and criticisms welcome as usual.

The 224mc will be great for both applications. I even do DSO imaging with mine it's a belting camera.

Good stuff!

I've never quite understood why the 'amp glow' issue has never been sorted. DSLR's use cmos and it hasn't been an issue with them for years. Do Canon/Nikon mess with the RAW file to get rid of the amp glow?

Meant to mention, I've heard good things about modern Nikons but I'll stick with Canon for now as I have a lot of Canon accessories and BYEOS software.

Hi Louise, I think it was the 60Da variant that was intended for astro. Unfortunately I'm not in a position to purchase a cooled cam, I'd probably go with a ZWO ASI 294c if I could. I think I'll go with a 600D as I want to get it Baader modded eventually.

Apparently Cheap Astrophotography won't mod 60d's. That's a shame.

Thanks I'll have a look into it.