Adreneline

Really frustrating with all the clouds of late which is stopping me experimenting with my new ASI1600 with the Samyang 135mm. There might be undersampling but I still love the level detail combined with the wide'ish field of view - a compromise I can live with. This is IC1396; 12x120s + 12x180s + 12x240s all at 200 gain/50 offset pre-processed separately in APP and then combined as HDR in PI, followed by a little bit of tweaking in PS. Stars removed using Annie's Astro Actions in PS. Next time I'll aim to get all of Sh2-129 in the shot as well! Thanks for looking. Adrian

Nice shot. What was the camera?

I also managed (just!) to capture 15x120s of OIII last night to add to the Ha in my earlier post. The target was only at 30 degrees elevation and well within the LP of Derby and LP from the moon. It's a testament to the 135mm and the 1600MM-Pro that I got anything at all! Just enough to add a little bit of colour and hopefully not too much noise. This is pre-processed in Astro Pixel Processor, followed by DBE and HT applied in PixInsight, and then Bi-Colour combined using Annie's Astro Actions in PS followed by a little bit of noise reduction using Nik dFine2. Adrian

Hi Rush. I bought the belt from MotionCo - along with the various pulley components, etc. I don't think I will be going for the electronic option thank you; I prefer the simple approach Good luck with sourcing an appropriate belt. Adrian

I've had my 135mm a year now and used it primarily with an Atik428ex and more recently a ASI1600MM-Pro. This is the Heart and Soul using the ASI1600; 15x120s + 15x180s at unity gain, offset 50. I really like the wide field of view offered by this combination. I use a fairly manual setup - manual filter change and semi-manual focussing using a homemade stepper motor system. Thanks for looking. Adrian

An excellent idea - and not just images but also images of how members have mounted the lens and overcome spacing and remote focussing challenges maybe? Thank you. Adrian

Welcome! Nice image - very evocative. The advice everyone gives (and gets) is read this book: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/making-every-photon-count-steve-richards.html Enjoy and looking forward to seeing more images from your equipment. Adrian

Very nice image Martin - I love the colours. May I ask the Ha/OIII/SII composition of the RGB channels? Is it simply SHO or is there more to it than that? I am being very tempted by the ASI1600 Pro to use with my Samyang 135mm. Adrian

I know this is a personal thing but I really like to see images of HH without the diffraction spikes. This is a great image Adam - thanks for sharing. Adrian

Hi vlaiv, Thanks for clearing that up. Adrian

Hi vlaiv, The PI forum article (the link I've sent) says in Warning (Note) 2 : "Do not combine denoised images. Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) will be enhanced by combining noisy images and denoising the result. Combined images must be equally exposed, have the same pixel resolution, and be registered by projective transformation with no distortion correction." The LV tutorial ( https://www.lightvortexastronomy.com/tutorial-narrowband-bicolour-palette-combinations.html ) advises the opposite - perform denoising before combining. That's why I'm confused. Sorry if I am confusing you as well Adrian

This is the link vlaiv: https://pixinsight.com/forum/index.php?topic=9206.0 Thanks for looking. Adrian

Hi Wim, I agree entirely, but these two articles seem to be at odds - one says denoise before combining Ha, OIII, SII masters using PixelMath (or whatever) and the other says denoise after combining the individual masters. I have a feeling it's all pretty marginal if the original data is good and you would be hard pressed to tell the difference as to when the noise reduction was performed. As you say, best to have good data and not to have to denoise and not to have to use deconvolution either! Thanks for your response. Adrian

Hi vlaiv Many thanks for your reply. The PI forum article was specifically about combining Nb images, e.g. Ha, OIII and SII, and using MureDenoise, making the point that individual masters should not be denoised prior to combining. The LV article mentions MLT but previous tutorials make it clear MLT is only one option, others include MureDenoise. Hence my confusion. The only thing in common is that images should be stretched to non-linear before combining. Adrian P.S. This is the link to the PI forum article: https://pixinsight.com/forum/index.php?topic=9206.0

So far when processing Nb images prior to combining as Bi-Colour or HST etc. I have followed the advice given in the LightVortex tutorials, namely "They have been fully pre-processed, have been registered with each other, have had background gradients removed with DBE and have been noise reduced with MLT...... in order to get the most out of colour combining these images, it is best they are stretched to non-linear". I was nosing around on the PixInsight forum and came across a MureDenoise script for denoising linear monochrome images, where the advice given was "Do not combine denoised images. Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) will be enhanced by combining noisy images and denoising the result". So now I'm confused - I think! What's the considered view on SGL? (a) pre-process, denoise, stretch and combine, or (b) pre-process, stretch, combine and denoise. Adrian

Hi, I don't use heated clothing for AP but I do use heated clothing for motorcycling. Sports Bike Shop are excellent : https://www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk/motorcycle_parts/content_cat/1391 : they also have an excellent returns policy if it's not suitable/doesn't fit. It's also not too bulky as it has to fit under other protective clothing. Many of the units can be run from pocket power supplies - some run off the bike itself. Worth a look maybe if only to get some ideas. Adrian

I'll do some research. Have to say I hadn't thought about compatibility with BYEoS - I just assumed it would work! I'm thinking of getting an M50 anyway and was just wondering if I could get some extra gearing from the purchase. Thank you for your advice. Adrian

Hi Everyone, Just wondered if anyone had used a Canon M50 (or similar) for AP? If so any issues with spacing, using filters, etc. Thank you. Adrian

Hi, Very nice image - I really like it. You don't mention which processing software you used. I use PS to create Hubble Palette images (Annie's Astro Actions) and run into problems with magenta halos, however, I discovered there is a nice fix for it in PI using a PixelMath script (attached) I found on the PI forum. Apparently the same thing can be achieved using ColorMask under the Script menu but as yet I've not tried that method. HTH Adrian remove magenta stars.xpsm

I'm G4NOV but very much QRT (non-operational) these days - all I have is a very old IC2E and I've not heard anything on that for years! I was always a big fan of RTTY and Amtor writing my own software for the BBC (now in the loft) and Archimedes (long gone to a new owner). I would be very interested to know/hear how you get on trying to have a contact with ISS. I was always impressed by amateurs who used meteor scatter for brief contacts using large, high-gain, steerable, multiple antenna arrays - the ISS sounds equally challenging. Good luck!

Wow! I am seriously impressed. I am also impressed this feat of construction appears to be taking place in the lounge! But to be serious that is some undertaking and I only wish I felt I could do something similar. I'm currently trying to pluck up the courage to drill two holes in a Vixen bar - maybe tomorrow. Good luck and I look forward to seeing the finished item. Thank you for sharing and inspiring. Adrian

I use Arcsinh a lot but in PI. I perform gradient removal first followed by colour calibration and then noise reduction before applying Arcsinh incrementally. I then use PS to pull out the colours. I presume the same process might apply in PS. Adrian

Hi Oleg, This is the version I use - running on a 2013 MacBook Pro. My programming experience is very dated - 6502 processors on home computers, IBM8080 and Fortran IV on ICL1900 mainframes - all way back in the 1970's and 80's. Since then I've been a GUI 'wrapped in cottonwool' user I'm afraid. I am currently trying to get to grips with Linux (via VirtualBox on the NUC) and programming an Arduino (via the MBP) and at my age it could be too much! Thank you again for a very useful utility. Adrian

I have Raw2Fits running under Ubuntu Astronomy within VirtualBox on a NUC-PC (I gave up with the MacBook!). This is a really steep learning curve for a non-Linux person. I have tried the current version and it worked perfectly on my Canon raw files, converting them to individual RGB .fit files. Thank you. Adrian

If only I could get Ubuntu to run on my 2006 MacBook I would like to give your software a go - it looks very interesting. Back to the MacBook