Adreneline

That sounds worth a look at - thanks very much. Adrian

Hi Alan, Thanks Alan - I'll go in search and see what I can find. My basic RGB subs don't seem to contain that much colour - probably because they are so short (10s and 30s). I tried using ArcsinhStretch in PI and that introduces lots of colour but the stars all look a bit untidy and ill-defined. By the time I've restored the star shapes most of the colour seems to have evaporated away again so that when I come to layer them into the NB image it is very hard to see any real difference. I've also used basic HistogramStretch on the RGB image but again the colour is not really there and by the time it starts to show the stars are all getting a bit bloated. It's all a bit of a challenge. I think I favour little stars with a lack of colour to bloated stars with colour. Adrian

Thanks for the kind comments @assouptro, @alan potts and @geordie85. I took this image over two weeks ago and have been messing around with the processing ever since! Despite having everything thrown at it (filters and software) I still seem to have successfully lost all the star colours More cloudy nights forecast so perhaps I'll have another bash. Thanks again. Adrian

This is R, G, B, Ha, OIII and SII all taken with a ZWO-ASI1600MM-Pro fitted to a Canon 200mm f2.8 lens. The R, G and B were all 10s and 30s combined in Photoshop. The NB was all 30s, 60s and 120s, again layered in Photoshop. This is essentially RGB combined with HOS, pre-processed in APP, post-processed in PI and combined in PS. Thanks for looking. Adrian

What's to say? How about awesome! Adrian

Like what I haven't got! The Ha was pretty distinct but the OIII was really hard to get. Oh well - worth a go though. Thank you.

I don't know whether APP is infallible or not - so far it's not failed me. This was assembled in APP: All the Ha and OIII data for all the sessions was fed into APP in one go and the linear version of the above popped out. No attempt has been made to hide boundaries cos' I couldn't find any (as it is uncropped it is pretty obvious where they ought to be if you want to go looking). I also have the SII data but decided against using it. Adrian

I agree entirely. Part of me feels that if the object of the exercise is to image the nebula then it is the nebula I want to see. If we have the means to remove the stars (which I am not trying to image) then why not? - especially if it helps to reveal detail and structure that was not as apparent with the stars present. I've done my own starless Horsehead and Orion image but have been hesitant to post. Well done to @AbsolutelyN for sharing this excellent and revealing image. Maybe there should be a separate Starless Thread for those who like starless images - no stars allowed - a star-free zone. Adrian

Thanks Carole. The Oiii subs are very feint and I was reluctant to over stretch them. I could probably have gone to 180s subs but with the light pollution I’m not sure I would have gained anything. I’ll try and grab some more Oiii next time it’s clear and moonless - hopefully in my lifetime! The CEM25-EC is great for unguided use. I do a careful PA and a two-star alignment with the ASIair and then plate solve the target. Plate solving with ASIair is amazing compared with SGPro. The ASIair typically takes only 4 or 5 seconds to plate solve and sync with Sky Safari on the iPad and then it’s a case of centre the target and off you go! Adrian

My first attempt at this target. Not the easiest because surrounding trees and buildings really limit the time you can get on target. Furthermore IC 2177 never really clears the light pollution zone from a neighbouring town. All that aside this is 17 x 120s of Ha and 10 x 120s of OIII, calibrated and stacked in APP, processed in PI and Levels applied in PS with a small amount of noise reduction. Taken with a Canon 200mm lens with an ASI1600MM-Pro at gain 139/offset 50, a ZWO-EFW and ZWO-EAF; the whole thing controlled from an ASIair, unguided. Comments and criticism welcome. Thanks for looking. Adrian

Nice result, especially considering the moon being in attendance! Hope you don't mind but if you back off the black point a little quite a lot more of the surrounding nebulosity starts to appear. I've attached a .tif of your image with the black point set at 23:23:23 or there about followed by a little bit of noise reduction and a tiny tweak of the blue histogram to try to line them all up. Adrian m42.tif

Those are seriously impressive results especially recognising where you took them from. I cannot imagine imaging on the side of the street with all that light pollution. Well done!

Hi Helen, Not sure I can answer your question but yesterday I used my Atik414ex-osc with SGPro for the first time in some months and also had problems with cooling and image acquisition. In fact the cooler just went off on one and took the camera down to -26.37 degrees! - and then refused to re-warm. The only thing I had changed since last using the camera was to update the Atik Core software to the latest version - which I did because I wanted to try the latest version of Dusk. I similarly found the 414 was not correctly identified in SharpCap and I could not capture images properly either. In the end, because I did not want to waste the first clear night inages, I gave up trying to use the 414ex (and Dusk) and spent the evening using my ASI1600. My experience may not be of any help but there again .... Adrian

This is an attempt to combine RGB and NB data. The image consists of 30 x 120s of Ha and OIII plus 10 x 120s of R, G and B taken with a ZWO-ASI1600 + Canon 200mm. Image acquisition was all done using an ASIair controlled from an iPad. Pre-processing was completed in APP. PI was used for background extraction. Non-linear Ha and OIII were combined in PixelMath R:G:B - Ha : 0.3*Ha+0.7*OIII : OIII). Linear RGB were combined in ChannelCombination and then stretched using ArcsinhStretch. The two images were then combined in Photoshop and tweaked with Levels and a little noise reduction. I am sure it must be possible to get more star colour. I find it really hard to combine RGB and NB so any critical/helpful comment or advice would be most welcome. Adrian

Apologies for the mistake. In that case I cannot remember who I bought them from - I'll have to see if I can find something amongst my records. Adrian

In my case I presume it was just flexing of the cable connection to the heater element eventually gave rise to a short circuit and with no effective current limiting it took as much current as was available from the supply - mine will potentially supply 12A at 12V. I have now bought some in-line connectors so plan to fit an in-line fuse.

One might ask why dew heaters are not supplied with inline fuses in the supply cables? They all seem to come with a phono plug for direct connection to the controller.

The 365Astronomy strap I have draws 0.48 amps at 12.5 volts so R must be around 26 ohms. The HA controller does not contain any fuses (it was my first thought when it stopped working - I opened it to have a look!) and although I am no electronics expert I think it uses triacs to limit the current. If it does then it doesn't limit it enough otherwise I would not have had two straps fail in this manner. A strap melting around a metal dew shield is one thing - a strap melting around a plastic lens hood is quite another. Adrian

I've had this happen twice in the last 3 months - both times where the cable attaches to the heater element. My 3" heater actually caught fire as I ripped it off the scope - the 4" just got very hot and started to smell but I noticed it before it actually burst into flames. I was using them with the HitecAstro four channel controller. I then started using a 365Astronomy element with the HA controller and that suddenly stopped working as well - it just didn't heat up. The led indicators came on but the heater didn't warm up irrespective of which socket I plugged it in to. I contacted HA and they asked me to send the controller back for repair (at no charge), however, I received a message from HA saying there was no fault to repair - I am still awaiting return of the unit to try again. So I am now using the 365Astronomy strap connected directly to a 12.5 volt supply and hoping it behaves itself whilst wrapped around my Canon 200mm! Adrian P.S. I cannot remember the make of the heater straps - I think I bought all three from FLO a couple of years ago. The weakness in the design is definitely where the cable atatches to the strap - the strain relief is completely inadequate.

An amazing result adam for such a limited time. I really like the brown dusty regions and the star colours. Adrian

Good luck! I'm hoping I can start a project! It's looking good so far - I look forward to seeing the finished image. Adrian

I really like this image Steve, and I like @Laurin Dave's idea of a mosaic to include the Heart & Soul. I am really interested to see the results other people obtain with the Samyang 135mm and in particular star shapes at the extremities of the image. Next time we get a clear night (in my dreams) mine is ready to go with my Atik414osc alongside my Canon 200mm and ASI1600. I'm hoping to catch Lum and/or NB with the 200/1600 and RGB with the 135/414 and play at combining the two. Thanks for sharing. Adrian

Hi. I've just installed PixInsight 1.8.8 for Windows and reinstated the Starnet++ files in the /bin subdirectory. I've tried to install the starnet++ module without success; it worked fine with the previous version of PI but not with 1.8.8. Has anyone else had this problem or am I doing something wrong? SEE BELOW. Adrian P.S. I ran the command line version test and it works just fine so I'm sure the tensorflow.dll is compatible. P.P.S. I'm all sorted and up and running. My SourceForge download was incomplete. I now have the missing dll.

Thanks Wim and sorry for the slow response. I don't understand why I get notifications for some of my posts and nothing at all for others; I am afraid I did not notice your comment until I stumbled across it just now. I will have a go at your suggestion and let you know what I find. I've been playing around at trying to do identical post-processing with masters produced by PI and APP to see if I can deduce anything. Along with taking new calibration frames it gives me something to do on the endless cloudy nights! I'm half way through doing new darks right now with unity gain and offset 50 (my new ASIair - which I love - does not allow for any adjustment of offset - 50 is the default so I thought I would redo my old 56 offset darks, etc.). Thanks again for your help and advice. Adrian

That is a really striking result and inspired alternative and more worthy name. Thanks for sharing. Adrian