Star101

Very nice Moon. Good thing its not full as folks would start to wonder steppen

I decided to process the subs I had collected. I used blink to remove 4 that had clouds. I set the PixInsight script WBPP to do its thing. It finished with 6 subs integrated. Not great when I started with 34 subs lol. So, I blink checked all 30 subs that had managed calibration and found 2 that didn't look good so removed. Than run the star alignment and finally integrated the 28 remaining subs. A gentle histogram stretch, curves and the minutest deconvolution, standard settings for ACDNR and finally SCNR Green to get this image. Taken over several nights in November. Atik 4120EX on a C11@2800mm, Mesu 200. Guiding using Lodestar X2 on ZWO AOG. PHD2, SGPro and PixInsight. 28 x 600s Lights Master Darks/Bias/Flats. Thanks for looking.

Thanks Dave, Yeah I saw the moon rising and thought of experimenting

Thanks GiorgioF. I will leave it for now. I just had the urge to image M81 for a few weeks now. I knew last night was not a great night, with the moon so bright, but I still went ahead. I will image again when we have clear DARK skies

Tried again last night for about an hour. I used the ZWO183mm as guide cam....Not as easy as I expected. Lodestar X2, I think, would have been a better choice. Very difficult to get PHD2 to show much detail with the ZWO camera. Maybe I should have used Darks Library! Anyhow, I cut the GIF down as the original is 300Meg. This one is 33Meg, if it allows me to upload I should have said that the GIF image was created using GIMP.

Deconvolution and a few tweaks. M81 take 2

From WiKi- Messier 81 (also known as NGC 3031 or Bode's Galaxy) is a spiral galaxy about 12 million light-years away, with a diameter of 90,000 light years, about half the size of the Milky Way, in the constellation Ursa Major. Due to its proximity to Earth, large size, and active galactic nucleus (which harbors supermassive black hole), Messier 81 has been studied extensively by professional astronomers. The galaxy's large size and relatively high brightness also makes it a popular target for amateur astronomers. Taken with a very bright moon shining in a very hazy sky. 9 x 600s and 11 x 300s Lights Master Darks/Flats/Bias C11 with Celestron FR. Atik 4129EX OSC camera on a Mesu 200 mount. Collected using SGPro and Processed using PixInsight. Thanks for looking. Dave

Very nice Carole.

Thanks Geof. Yeah, I should have put it in Special Events. Could Mods move it please!

Thanks Davey-T. I wish I had remembered it sooner. Could have spent a few hours on this. Maybe tomorrow if its clear I will give it a better shot

Managed 6 x 1 minute subs before rain stopped play. C11 with focal reducer. Atik 4120EX OSC processed in PixInsight. Not the best and I know some of you can do better. The tail is there, just needs more time to bring it out. See Inverted Lum.

Great image David. On my laptop the stars appear to have a green tinge. If I may suggest one more process to try if you are using Pixinsight. - NoisReduction/SCNR/Green. Dave

Quick process of data from last nights session where I left the rig imaging while we went XMas shopping Not the best night as lots of low foggy cloud as can be seen in the final image. Also need new Flats...I'm not sure what the black triangle shade is in bottom right hand corner as this is not on the lights!. Oh well, just a test shot. I found 600s is too long for the Atik 4120EX with the C11 and FR. The center core is blown out. I will try 300s next time. 16 x 600s Lights

I think the definitive answer is to process, to the best of ones ability, both images and see which comes out best. The green cast, in the first image, does not help and is easily removed in processing. Dave

Having double clicked both images to zoom in on the noise. I think that the second image is better. On a normal scale, on my laptop. Both images look the same. Very nice work. Thanks for sharing. Dave.

Thats a very nice Helix MG. This is way too far south for me to see, let alone, image. Thanks for sharing. Dave

🧘‍♂️

Very nice images. Well worth the time spent.

I switch between full FL and Hyperstar quite a lot. I also use a hairdryer sometimes to blow out condensation. Its possible dust actually gets blown into the OTA. The scope is 10 years old now. Its the first time I have ever cleaned the primary. I have cleaner the corrector plate once before. I have not yet touched the secondary mirror. At close inspection, it still looks good to me

The second image appears much better on my phone. I've always found M33 a very difficult galaxy to image. It takes a lot of imaging time to get any detail. I find it has the usual three areas of bright centre dimmer mid drift and faint outer reaches of its arms. I think you have done well to get the detail here.

Ditto on flats. They will clear up the vignetting and making it look smooth right across the image. I have the same camera. Its a great camera. I recommend Darks/Flats and Bias ( I use 1 second Darks as Bias ) Why not give it a go with this image and post it here ?

Are you dithering ? Dithering makes a world of difference. If you are just imaging and taking shot after shot with no movement of the mount, the bad parts of the chip get highlighted. If you dither ( move the scope very very slightly, between shots. When you come to stack the subs, the image will be slightly moved so the stacking software will align the images on the subs. By doing so, it will move, blend, the chip defects. Making them hardly, if at all, noticeable. This way, improving the final image