CCD Imager

14 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

Yes, the stretch is everything.

There are various ways of controlling it. Some astro processing packages have an assortment of ready made stretches which offer educated guesses as to what might work with your data. Try them by all means but the craftsman's tool, in my view, is Curves.

It's too big an area for a quick explanation here, I'm afraid, but tutorials by Adam Block, Warren Keller or Robert Gendler won't disappoint. If ever you hear a U-tuber say, 'I just play with the sliders till I like what I see,' turn him off and don't go back. There are millions of subscriber-hungry beginners thrashing about in the dark with not a clue as to what they are doing.

Olly

I think PIxinsight's GHS goes a long way to help folk with stretching, but I agree curves misuse is probably the most typical pitfall in processing

Adrian

Good capture, almost looks like 3 interacting galaxies

Adrian

Nice image Tomato, you are like me, same scope going after smaller objects

Adrian

Saturation is definitely a personal choice, just make sure it is not clipped. As you have been imaging a long time, you will know that exposures of objects has increased dramatically among amateurs and in those early days, images tended to look noisy when saturation increased. But with longer exposures and now excellent anti-noise software, this can be largely avoided.

In photography, proper saturation is crucial.

Let me ask you which image below you prefer?

55 minutes ago, cfinn said:

Indeed! Here’s mine that I posted a few weeks back as well, which shows it can be done with a refractor and a reasonable integration time with some careful processing. No RASA required! Though I’m sure it helps…

Very nice too. These days, it seems that if you go deep enough, there is dust every where, almost obligatory! 

Always nice to see a new perspective of a common object, the surrounding dust is quite striking, excellent rendition!

Adrian

A bit late in the season, but I imaged this over a few nights in early January whilst waiting for winter objects to rise. 

A cracking edge on galaxy in Andromeda that is quite bright, even visually, I have had memorable views with big dobs in the past.

This image was taken in good seeing, FHM 1.8-1.9 arc sec, LRGB with a total of only 5.5 hours

SW Esprit 150 and ASI 183 mono camera

Adrian

Here is another image from this month, continuing my theme of imaging smaller objects. At this resolution, you really are at the mercy of atmospheric seeing and for this image, seeing was fair at 2.2 arc secs (I do have one to upload shortly with good seeing)

Taken with the usual Esprit 150 and ASI 183

Total integration of 6.9 hours, LRGB

Adrian

Just now, Elp said:

It's one I started a few seasons back whilst waiting for another target, not easy, I was using an OAG, you need good guiding at long FL due to the size of it.

Actually, I dont guide. The 10 micron mount I own with absolute encoders allows purely tracking. Thereby, guiding errors don't exist, probably the best astro purchase I have ever made

Adrian

Thanks for the compliments everyone, appreciated.

Clarkey, the problem with a bigger scope is you need a bigger better mount to go with it!

Adrian

I've changed my rig to image more high resolution and smaller objects during this winter.

My first was the Eskimo at a mere 48 arc secs in size, makes it quite challenging, especially as seeing wasn't great at 2.1 - 2.2 arc secs FWHM

This is a straight RGB image taken with an Esprit 150 and ASI183, total integration time of 3.3 hours.

Adrian

The long exposures have really paid off, both in terms of pulling out the brown dust and smoothness of the image

Adrian

1 hour ago, johnturley said:

I used to have an early (pre-Starfire) Astro Physics 6in f8 Refractor, and the Esprit 150 is both better colour corrected, and gives sharper views. 

John 

Yes, the older AP refractors werent up to modern day standards. The 160 I had was current and superb

30 minutes ago, Fegato said:

Yes, I think you certainly succeeded with that. Great advert for the Esprit 150 too...  must admit I'd like that scope to complement my RASA. But with so little clear sky time here I just fear it wouldn't get enough use and targets would disappear before I'd finished them! I sometimes wonder about having one permanently down in Spain, but that's a lot of expense and complexity...

Everyone says how horrible our UK skies are and certainly a lot less clear than Spain, but if you add those few hours here and there, you might be surprised. Since having an automated dome observatory for the last 3 years, I have gathered so much more data. On the 5/6th December, I was just about to go to bed and noticed it was clear outside, the Met Office and ClearSky (the most trustworthy IMO) both forecast mostly clouds, but it happened to be clear with good FWHM, so I grabbed 4 hours of luminance to add to the colour I had already taken.

Mind you, Wales may be a bit different

Go for the Esprit!! I once had an Astrophysics 160 and the Esprit gives it a good run for its money!

Adrian

51 minutes ago, Fegato said:

I do see some funny coloured crabs that I really don't like. But that's lovely!

Thanks Robin, I wanted to make sure the colour balance was real, so correct exposures for each filter matched to the QE of the camera and then SPCC in Pixinsight, so should be very close to reality

The contrasting objects and panoramic view make for a very pleasing image

Adrian

M1, a beautiful supernova remnant from 1054, almost 1000 years ago. A very common object, but not to be over looked and I havent imaged it for many years.

I decided to image in broadband to show off its true colour and calibrated with SPCC in Pixy to confirm

Taken with an Esprit 150 and ASI 183, around 6 hours of data - 4 hours of luminance on the 6th Dec when the skies unexpectantly cleared after midnight and the colour subs from a week or so ago with the moon around giving challenging gradients

Adrian

Maybe it looks more pinwheel than M33 🤣

Only in that it looks like a pinwheel firework, I was trying to be seasonal, but thanks for commenting.

Adrian

Lovely data and well processed!

Adrian

IC342, a good competitor as a fireworks galaxy to NGC6946?

Imaged last new moon, totalling 9.5 hours, LRGB taken with an ASI6200 and Esprit 150, all unguided.

If you use averted vision, there is some nice background IFN visible

Adrian

Good capture, very low in the sky, even from Kent

Adrian

Very nice image with an ethereal look, perfectly saturated colours, I like your processing.

Adrian

Nice work, looking forward to the mosaic!

Adrian

Great to capture something so faint. Your hard work has paid off!

Adrian