Nigel G

Does Alan realise how lucky he is ? and what a dark spot, Tracy Island don't get much better than that ! Nice one F.A.B Nige.

I know its not using an EQ3 but this is what turned up just after my whinge about NLC It pays to whinge now and again The problem is after NLC normally comes a weather change, heavy clouds or clear sky, heavy cloud is what came shortly after, followed by an all night downpoor. Nige.

Thats loads less noise with a bit less Ha showing, What exposure times was this ? Do you or have you thought about dithering after each sub, I found it works well with both Canon banding and camera noise, although I dither about every 4 or 5 subs. Nige.

I did trial PixInsight for 40 days. I got about the same final image as with StarTools, BUT I know StarTools tricks and processes whereas I do not know PI. Startools was quicker with processing but thats not what its about. Imagers that know PI well would not use ST over PI, I can't say the same for the other way round. I think PI has more tricks and can produce some top images, I have not seen a top quallity narrowband or mono LRGB processed with ST yet ( top imagers prefer PI or other software). I know people who use PI prefer to stack there data using PI too. StarTools was designed for the imager with shallow pockets, I would say PI has the potential to produce a better final image. Hope this helps. Nige.

Great image, nice colour and good detail, Well done. Practice makes perfect, after 18 months with StarTools I find new tricks all the time Not bad at all Neil, your picking up a lot of Ha and tidy stars, time will sort the noise out Nige.

After the first great display of cloud a second followed a little while after, twice in one night. Someone was listening to me whinging Canon 1300D set to Auto AV, 2 pannel mosaic, aligned and polished in PS. Southeast UK Cheers Nige.

First real NLC for me ( I hope ). 2 pannel mosaic. Southeast UK Canon 1300D set to auto AV, Aligned and a little polish with PS. Edit- Stock lens at 18mm Hope this quallifies Cheers Nige.

Well done guys, 3 awesome images Nige.

I'm a little disappointed to see that the EQ3 images didn't get a mention in the 30s challenge winners, but when there's large scopes, big mounts, dark sky's, mono CCD's and such to compete with. The 3 winners are awesome images. Nevertheless we shall keep trying, maybe something will come up, as for the NLC challenge, still not seen anything around here that passes as NLC, guess you got to be lucky or live in the right location. EDIT: Tonight is my lucky night they are here now, whinge and you will receive Whinge of the day out of the way Looks like its going to be clear here again tonight, no work tomorrow either Nige.

I have been messing around with StarTools and M16. A vast improvement to detail and better colour I think by using "Artistic detail aware" in the colour module. and a little less developing. I'm surprised how much difference it made. Might have to reprocess a few more again Click on image for full size. 2nd is reprocessed. Nige.

I had a pretty good session last night with no cloud to mess things up, PHD guiding was good enough to leave the kit doing its stuff with a check from time to time, although I did have to do a meridian flip as I noticed the camera very close to one of the tripod legs. PHD had a few wild spikes and I also noticed a regular quiet clicking on the mount about 1click per 2 seconds, might need to strip down and investigate. I kept 40 of 45 subs, 5 had slight stretched stars. I dithered after every 5 or so subs to try and reduce the Canon banding, with the meridian flip it did help. Sadr ( Gamma Cygni ) & Cygnus, 40x240s ISO800 2H 40m, darks, flats & bias. Modified 1200D, Equinox 80 & EQ3. PHD2, DSS, StarTools & PS. Cheers. Nige.

Thanks Neil, I have a 750mm FL which would be a better frame, the only trouble is on the EQ3 it ends up at very odd orientations with the camera hanging off the bottom, it has a fixed dovetail and its not a very stable scope at all but I think its worth a go. Nige.