Stub Mandrel

This is an experiment, I've set Photoshop to embed an ICC colour profile in my images and forced it to use sRGB for all images. This seems to have worked as it now load an astra-processed image without making it look dark, and astra now loads a PS processed image without lightening it. The acid test, will one of those images, when uploaded, contrasty dark or will it be pale and 'over processed': Looks like an improvement. It seems Photoshop was displaying the images with a low (Mac-style) gamma so I was over stretching to compensate. What I've done is change the PS settings, open the images in Astra (where they look bleached out), adjust the gamma to darken them, re-save and open in Photoshop and they look OK when opened instead of too dark previously opening an image set 'right' in Astra might see nearly all its nebulosity disappear when opened in photoshop. Looks like I still need to do a crop to get rid of edge effects.

That's the curse of SGL, it looks better in Photoshop or windows preview. Here's the proof, same image on the left displayed in SGL, on the right in Window preview. Totally ***** any chance I have of winning one of the SGL challenges!

Took a few images last night, this is the best one of Sadr. I've done some noise removal with a star mask as the background suffered badly from the thin cloud. Transparency was awful, a hardly anything to see naked eye other than the main constellations: Rest of them and the original Sadr are here (see I save the best for you lot!):

Imaging Sadr this evening. Probably a visual astronomer's biggest nightmare... lit up like a Christmas tree. Believe it or not the computer is displaying a mostly black PHD2 screen at minimum brightness. main light source is my workshop window.

Somehow that wouldn't work if the mount was white...

If you want to convert a Skywatcher 9x50 finderscope into a guidescope for use with ZWO cameras, you can use the STL files here. There is the double threaded scope to T-mount adaptor and a very solid dovetailed scope holder (that needs 6xM6 nylon screws to finish). Use a 0.1mm or less layer height to get well-formed threads: http://www.stubmandrel.co.uk/workshop/153-3d-printed-50mm-finder-to-guidescope-adaptor The page includes basic advice on printer settings.

Bear in mind I didn't have the original image to play with, just a jpeg...

This is what gradex does on a screen gab of your image. I just put a wide selection around the nebula, inverted the mask and ran Gradient exterminator on ''coarse, aggressive, balance background'.

Well done Art, I still haven't managed to get a bead on M16. Have you tried gradient exterminator - its works AND if you tick 'balance background colour' it make processing your images for a decent colour balance much easier.

You lie! That was the solution, I am in your debt!

Help! Registax has got borked! The RGB align dialogue won't open properly, it just opens minimised (see below) and no amount of mousepkeren will get it to open up. I have tried deleting the ini file, editing it and the only thing that cures the problem is a full reinstall. Unfortunately after three full reinstalls, each time it reappears and works, but the problem is still there when I open Regi for a second time. My understanding is that Registax is now a legacy program, with no support forum or development? Does anyone here know a cure?

Your scope is smaller than the polarscope...

Best of luck with doing your polar alignment! I don't suppose it will shift much when a youngster trips over on it!

My bubble nebula, processed in PSP, then gamma reduced in PS so it doesn't look so embarrassing

I feel thick now, I couldn't get anything presentable out of Startools! <deleted image because once uploaded it looked utterly ..... if I save an image in anything other than PS it looks totally different when uploaded :-( >

There's loads more Ha in the image I have here. It looks completely different in Astra, PS and on SGL, despite me trying to get all my programs to usethe same colour profiles. Five minute exposures, dithering is going to be a bit of an issue as I would have to find a way to get the computer to control the camera. Looking at the histograms I could easily go up to 30 minute exposures if the guiding didn't have those odd dec glitches now and again!

Another try at the Filamentary Data.

A shame really, not helped by the lack of decent conditions making it near impossible to get loads of data. Here my Filamentary Nebula, FWIW. There's still plenty of background noise despite cooling and Ha filter, but the stars are small and round:

Nice one Nige. Just stacking my filamentary neb subs from last night, I lost about or or five to jumps in DEC and a couple more to (probably) knocking something, but had 21 that look good.

Set up again, and doing the Filamentary in Ha. I cross checked my Pa of my box with polarfinder, way out looks like the RTC has got reset :-( Disregarding all advice I set the PA as accurately as possible and only slightly unbalanced the OTA in DEC. Once I got guiding, it was clear things are better. Just came in for ten, went out and it's reading RA 0.66" DEC 0.50". Let joy be unconfined! I'm going to stick on this target until the clouds come or the tree eats it.

Yes, modified DSLR, stacked using super-pixel mode, so i had to downsample last year's colour image by 50%. When I start doing this properly I will use super-pixel mode to stack the RGB as well and then I can get clever with the processing as I can split it to Ha, R, G & B all at full resolution and do things like combine Ha with red.

Might be the moon?

Well done! An almost impossible target for me from home, sadly as roofs get in eth way as well as similar LP issues. Have you got a longer scope to use on it?

Is it allowable to enter narrowband images taken with a DSLR?

I wasn't that good all night! Funnily enough I figured out it was that good when DEC was pointing the OTA straight up i.e. perfectly balanced, and the guiding got worse as it moved west. Soo... next time I will try with the OTA balanced in DEC, not unbalanced. This is sooo confusing! In RA I have it quite unbalanced, surprisingly the RA guiding seems to be consistently good.