alan4908

In 2015 I decided that I wanted to move to automated observing (basically due to the UK weather and the fact that I like my sleep) - so, after a bit of research, I decided to go for a Ian King Roll Off Off Observatory - mainly due to Ian's excellent reputation and the fact that it came with various options such as an electric roof and a cloud sensor/electric roof controller that where Ascom and ACP weather alerts compatible. I decided on the smallest size available since I wanted it to blend into my garden as much as possible. Since I was interested in automation, I decided on a very small warm room, basically just large enough for someone to get inside. My design philosophy was that main power and ancillary equipment would, as far as practical, go in the warm room and low voltage equipment would go in the main obsey.

I went for a relatively long exposure with M101, mainly because of its faint spiral arms - I ended up with just over 17 hours. From a processing perspective, the image was sharpened by deconvolution (CCDstack2) and smartsharpen, HDR toning (PS). The Ha was incorporated into the LRGB image by blending the Ha data into the red channel via the PS screen blending mode. LIGHTS: L26; R:31: G:11: B:12 x 600s + Ha: 12 x 1200s, DARKS: 30; FLATS:40; BIAS: 100 at -20C.

My second image with my new camera (Trius 814) and my first attempt at M51. Since the galaxy is relatively small in the field of view and stars can get relatively large when stretched, I decided to process the star layer separately from the galaxy. The Luminescence layer was sharped by a combination of deconvolution (CCDstack) and smart sharpen/HDR toning (PS). LIGHTS: L:11; R:10:G:9:B:8 at 600s + Ha: 3 x 1200s. BIAS:100; DARKS: 30; FLATS: 40.

My first image from the SX Trius 814 was of the NGC5033, a very massive (2 trillion solar mass) galaxy which is also known as the octopus galaxy. Additional galaxies are also shown in the image, the most notable being the one on the bottom left (NGC5005) which is relatively close neighbouring galaxy. The image was acquired with ACP Expert and processed with CCDstack2+ and Photoshop CC. LIGHTS: L:14; R:12:G:9:B11 at 600s; BIAS: 100; DARKS: 30; LIGHTS:40 all at -20C. (As an aside: this was my first image to use a new method of dark frame subtraction - take a long DARK (1800s) and let CCDstack calculate the dark frame subtraction with the goal of minimizing the signal to noise ratio).

IC342 is a spiral galaxy, oriented only slightly away from the plane of our own galaxy. As a consequence, when you image IC342, you are peering through lots of dust and debris of our own galaxy. This dust scatters blue light more than red, hence the "muddy red" effect. Some imagers attempt to inject the lost blue back into the galaxy but I've attempted to go for "natural" colours. I decided to heavily crop the image to show the core and dust lane details. Even with a c9hour exposure, the dust lanes are still a bit too faint..... LIGHTS: 53 x 600s; DARKS: 40; BIAS: 100; FLATS: 40 all at -20C.

This was the first image incorporating data from my new 3nm Ha filter (3 x 1800s) and was a bit of an experiment. The image is identical to the other NGC2403 apart from the incorporation of Ha data. The Ha data was added by blending the Red channel of the original (RGB) OSC image with the Ha image using PS Lighten. The Ha data was only applied to the galaxy core since I was concerned about unbalancing the star colours. Incorporating Ha data in this way yields the Ha as an "electric pink" colour in the final image. Since this be very dominating, I reduced the effect. Overall, I prefer the result to the non-Ha version.

Imaged in Dec 15/Jan15 with a SW ED80 and Trius SX26C. Although this spiral galaxy is relatively small in my field of view, I was impressed by the core details but less impressed by the dust lanes and Ha regions. I think I will reprocess the image when I've acquired some additional Ha data. LIGHTS: 53 x 600s; DARKS: 30; BIAS:100; FLATS:40.

Cropped view of the M31 (third attempt) image - I was quite impressed by the ability of HDR toning to enhance details.

Third attempt at M31 and my second reprocessing attempt. After watching Adam Block's excellent PS tutorial (Cosmic Canvas) I decided to incorporate two additional techniques into my PS workflow: Shadows and Highlights for increasing colour in the RGB image and HDR toning for increasing contrast in the synthetic luminance layer. LIGHTS: 42 x 300s + 23 x 600s; DARKS:30; BIAS: 100; FLATS:40. Taken with a Trius SX-26C and SW ED80.

Following my previous attempt at M31, I decided to see if I could improve the final quality by increasing the total exposure time to c7hours. I also decided to use the free software program eXcalibrator to colour calibrate my OSC, this is because I've always struggled to get the correct colour balance in post processing. Finally, I stacked the RGB channels separately using CCDstack2+, to give more accurate data rejection. The image was post processed in MaximDL (DDP), CCDstack2+ (Deconvolution) and PS CC. LIGHTS: 42 x 300s + 23 x 600s, DARKS: 30; BIAS: 100; FLATS: 40. The image was acquired between Sept 15 and Jan 16 with a Trius SX-26C and ED80.

Taken in September 2015 with a Trius SX-26C and ED 80. I had great difficulty in post processing this image since the nebula always seemed to get engulfed by the sea of relatively bright background stars. In Dec 2015, I had another attempt but this time I processed the star layer separately from the nebula. I then merged the two processed images via PS masks. The main advantage with this technique is that it allows you to more accurately control the star layer so the stars don't so bright or large. I quite like the result. LIGHTS: 20 x 300s; DARKS: 30; BIAS:100; FLATS: 40 all at -20C.

Acquired in June 2015 whilst setting up my new obs. At the time, I couldn't figure out how to process the image, so the data had been been waiting for my PS skills to improve. In Dec 2015 I decided to have another attempt, however, this time I decided to try processing the star layer separately from the nebula. I also decided to change from using Maxim DL for the calibration and stacking to CCDstack2+, mainly because I've been impressed by the data rejection results of CCD stack. I also decided to separately stack the RGB channels from my OSC to see if this would improve matters. LIGHTS: 27 x 300s; DARKS: 30; BIAS: 100; FLATS: 40 all at -20C.

My second astrophotography image taken in October 2014 from Hertfordshire with my ED80 in a non permanent set up, manually focused using the stock focuser (a process that I don't miss). I reprocessed the image in November 2015. The combination of dubious flat frames (taken with a white T shirt), no dithering and a site with medium light pollution meant that I had to spend quite a bit of effort fixing flaws in post processing. I also decided to give the image a boost by adding two subframes (2 x 300s) from my present location which is in a low light pollution area. The nebulosity was mainly extracted using DDP and a PS Screen Mask invert techniques. Given the quality of the subframes, I was quite pleased with the result. I now take my flats with an EL panel and always dither, this combination gives a noticeable improvement. Calibrated in MAXIM DL and stacked with CCDstack2+ with post processing in PS CC 2015. LIGHTS: 17 x 600s + 2 x 300s. DARKS: 30, BIAS: 50, FLATS:40.

This image was a result of an evaluation test of CCDNavigator and ACP Expert. At the time, I was also in the process of calibrating my new autofocusing software (FocusMax) and attempting to figure out why ACP was giving incorrect Pierside reporting information (now resolved). Due to these issues, I decided to image under non ideal (moon up) conditions. I was quite pleased with the result. LIGHTS: 14 x 600s, DARKS: 30; BIAS: 100; FLATS: 40 all at -20C.

My first attempt at the Heart Nebula (IC1805). I've rapidly discovered that attempting to image emission nebula with a one shot colour camera is a challenging business, requiring relatively long exposures and dark skies. This was my second automated image, captured by ACP Expert over several weeks when the sky was clear, the moon was down and the Heart was above my local horizon. LIGHTS: 45 x 600s; DARKS: 30; BIAS:100; FLATS: 40 all at -20C. Post processing in CCDstack2+ and Photoshop CC. Alan

Mainly due to the UK weather and the fact that I value my sleep, I find that I'm moving increasingly towards automated image capture. The Pacman nebula (NGC281) was my first automated image and represents various observations in Oct/Nov 2015 during mainly cloudy/moon lit nights. The automation software (ACP Expert) was instructed to wait for a clear sky, with a moon down and a target that was above my local horizon. Automated focusing was via FocusMax. Captured with a SW ED80 and a Trius SX26C. LIGHTS: 30 x 600s; DARKS: 40, FLATS: 40; BIAS: 50. Post processing in Photoshop CC 2015 and CCDstack2+.

I found this particular image very difficult to post process, mainly because my "standardised" LLRGB workflow did not seem to give very good results. However, I found by eliminating various steps (eg Screen Mask Invert) a more pleasing result was possible. Post processing was also compounded by the fact that I discovered that my telescope had been pointing at slightly different parts of IC1396 and my normal stacking software (MAXIM DL) refused to stack all the subs. After a bit of experimentation, I discovered that CCDstack2+ was able to stack everything correctly. On reflection, I think I've overdone the sharpening on the image, so it will need to be reprocessed at some point.

Taken in September 2015 with SW ED 80 and Trius SX26C. I was interested to see how a deep sky object would image during the glow of the "supermoon", so I picked a relatively bright object - the ET or Owl cluster (NGC 457). LIGHTS: 28 x 300s, BIAS: 50, DARKS: 30, FLATS: 40. Post processing in MAXIM DL and Photoshop CC. The stars outside the cluster were reduced by the PS plugin StarShrink.

Taken with a SW ED80 and Trius SX26C over several nights in August 2015. LIGHTS: 48 x 300s. DARKS: 30; BIAS: 100; FLATS: 40 all at -20C. Post processing in MAXIM DL and Photoshop CC. Applied LR deconvolution in MAXIM DL .The slightly ethereal effect is a by-product of the Screen Mask Invert technique used in PS post processing.

My very first picture from East Sussex ! Bloated stars where the main challenge in this image and I attempted to tame them via the StarShrink PS plugin from Russell Croman. I wasn't using dithering at the time, so the raw images contain quite a few defects which I had to process out with PS. Taken in June 2015 with a Trius SX26C and SW ED80. LIGHTS: 20 x 600s; DARKS: 40; BIAS: 100; FLATS: 40.

My first attempt at M33 and my first successful pier flip. Taken in September 2015 with a Trius SX26C and a SW ED80. LIGHTS: 19 x 600, DARKS: 30, BIAS:100, FLATS: 40 all at -20C. Post processing with MAXIM DL, Photoshop CC and CCDstack2+. This image was my first attempt at applying deconvolution with CCDstack which I discovered implements an excellent deconvolution algorithm.