CCD Imager
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Posts posted by CCD Imager
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On 05/07/2024 at 14:44, Pompey Monkey said:
Very nice!
Everybody is jumping on to the CMOS cameras these days, but the KAF8300 is a great sensor and still delivers, as you've shown, excellent results
Indeed they are, I had two, the QSI 583 and 683 in years gone by. But current CMOS camera's are much superior with read noise at least 5x less, higher QE and smaller pixels
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Thats a marvellous image given how low to the horizon it is. Although I have a good southern horizon, I find M16, M17 tough. M20 is right down there in the murk!
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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
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Good capture, almost looks like 3 interacting galaxies
Adrian
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Nice image Tomato, you are like me, same scope going after smaller objects
Adrian
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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?
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55 minutes ago, cfinn said:
Very nice too. These days, it seems that if you go deep enough, there is dust every where, almost obligatory!
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Always nice to see a new perspective of a common object, the surrounding dust is quite striking, excellent rendition!
Adrian
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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The long exposures have really paid off, both in terms of pulling out the brown dust and smoothness of the image
Adrian
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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
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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
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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
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The contrasting objects and panoramic view make for a very pleasing image
Adrian
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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
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Maybe it looks more pinwheel than M33 🤣
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Only in that it looks like a pinwheel firework, I was trying to be seasonal, but thanks for commenting.
Adrian
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Lovely data and well processed!
Adrian
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Good capture, very low in the sky, even from Kent
Adrian
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The North America Nebula
in Imaging - Deep Sky
Posted
excellent image, the star in the lower right gives the game away as to the lens used
Adrian