SlimPaling

I use a program called "SEQUENCE" .... it comes with my ASA mount and is used in conjunction with MaxIm DL to do a perrrfect job. I could use Maxim DL on its own ... but this "Sequence" software does the job even better. However ( I am pretty certain ) it does not work on any other type of mount .... but it is worth a mention for the sake of completeness. Mike

Hi again Ole .. I have a batch of LRGB images that I am hoping to find time to process soon .... I can see that at least 30%+ have got satellite trails. I am a bit of a novice with PixInsight ( at the minute) ..... so can I ask if PI will remove all ( or much reduce ) all of these trails using the " Image_Integration" process in PI??? Or are there more processes that I need to consider along the way??? If the "Image_Integration" process is the main option in PI to remove the rails ... what settings do I need to look out for to give me the best results? Cheers Mike

Astrometrica does the job .... I found that it took me quite a while to get used to how it works .... but it is worthwhile once you understand how to use it. I have been tracking some faint asteroids recently and found out that my scope & camera needs to have exposures 500 sec and upwards in order to easily spot objects fainter than mag16. Mike

Hi Ole ... Can I ask what software you are using to remove the tails? PixInsight maybe??? Mike

The attached image shows what I found on a single 500 second exposure last night ..... if you look carefully you should see 8 parallel satellite tracks!!! Is this the end of astro-imaging???? Do I sell my kit now ? Mike

When I first set up my garden obsy I spent quite a lot of time making up an exterior quality Ethernet cable plus wiring up the connectors at both ends ( very tricky .... and needed a special tool to crimp connectors ... and also a special tester to check that all connections were correct before I linked things up ! ) and ran it down from my BT router to my obsy .... about 20 meters away. It worked fine :-)))) However .... soon after I discovered that my obsy laptop could pick up the signal direct from my new BT Router inside my house ! ...... so basically I wasted my time :-((((

A second opportunity to image Comet Atlas this week. This time I did 19x60sec images with just the Lum filter .... at about 21:45 hrs Spotted a couple of faint galaxies as well 🙂

Hi .... On Saturday evening I managed to blow the cobwebs off my set-up after several months of in activity due to poor weather ... and get some shots of Comet Atlas. It is well over a year since I have tried to image a comet so I have a lot to re-remember how to go about it! I took 15 x 100 sec images using only the Luminance filter. After calibrating these in MaximDL I aligned the stacked images on the actual comet rather than the stars. I am amazed just how far the comet moved in just over 30mins judging by the lengths of the star trails! At the next opportunity I will try out shorter exposures ... probably 60 sec each .... thus reducing the movement of the actual comet during each exposure.

I have now solved my problem loading Starnet++ into Pixinsight. I had downloaded the "stand Alone" version instead of the "PI version". It wasn't easy to find the version that I wanted as Source Forge seems to have two different download pages for Starnet ! ... but I got there in the end 🙂

Hi ... I have been trying to add the Starnet++ module into Pixinsight .... but I can seem to get it recognised. I downloaded the files and pasted them into the Pixinsight bin .... but I must be doing something wrong 😞 I have just upgraded to Pixinsight v 1.8.8-3 .... and I also find that I can no longer log-in to the Pixinsight Forum to find help there with this. Can anybody give me some indication of the whole process , step-by-step, so that I can get it up and running? Cheers Mike

Thanks Martin .... my maths wasn't too good was it! I need to re-do my 11plus exam! Mike PS: did you see my comment to Carole, just now, saying I have discovered that Maxim does do automatic resizing when stacking with single binned images?

Thanks Carole for you thoughts 🙂 Actually I have been "playing" with MaximDL a bit earlier and I tried to align a single binned Ha tiff with a x2 binned Sii tiff ( without any resizing) too see what happened. It worked in a wink ... no problems ! Both files aligned and the Sii tiff was automatically resized without me doing anything extra 🙂 Things are looking up! Mike

Hi again Martin ... I have managed to get a few x2 binned Sii and Oiii images now ( more to be added when the weather allows ) .... but haven't even tried to process them or stack them with my single binned 1200 sec Ha files yet. Can I ask a question ...? 'cos this is quite new to me 😞 Re: the these x2 binned images ... because 1 pixel is turned into 4 pixels ... isn't the resulting image a quarter size of the single binned images? Therefore I will need to carry out Maxim's "Double the size" process twice to get it the matching size to my single binned Ha images? Cheers Mike

Hi again Martin .... thanks for your quick reply to mt two questions. Yes my capture software is capable of doing different binning levels. I use MaximDL to calibrate, align and stack my DSO images before taking these into Photoshop. So am I correct in thinking that MaximDL can align and stack images that have different binning levels? .... or do I have to do something to the x2 binned images before I align & stack them? Cheers Mike

Hi Martin ... Many thanks for taking the time to send me your thoughts .... much appreciated 🙂 I am intending to add more data if the weather allows using longer exposures ... I prepared my 1200 sec Darks last night in anticipation. There are a couple of things that I would like to ask about in your message ... I have highlighted them in the your quote above. (1) I don't understand what you mean by "bin the signal". I have only ever used " 1 binning" as I do not understand how to use other binning settings once I have got them! (2) At the minute I can't cope with PI ( as I find it mind blowing despite me trying to understand it when I get a few spare minutes ) ... I only use PS for my processing. I use Noel Carboni's actions extensively and also Annies actions occasionally .... are these the techniques the "techniques" that you are hinting at? ... or are there more techniques that I don't know about? Thanks for offering to take pm's from me if I need a few more bits of advice 🙂 Cheers Mike

My first attempt at narrow band imaging .... and I realise that I have a lot to learn !!!! I almost didn't upload my efforts but I am interested in what folks might say about it. I knew that Sh2-155 was going to be quite faint and didn't know how much detail was going to show up in my stacked images. I had to really over stretch the 3 sets of stacked files to find any details ... hence a very "grainy" final image .... but at least I could see something! I only did 7 x 300sec Ha/Oiii/Sii sets of images. I could see quite a bit of detail in my Ha set .... a VERY faint smudge of detail in the Sii set ... and absolutely nothing in the Oiii set. I have tried to use the Hubble Pallet but can see that the Ha channel totally dominates. Obviously I need to increase imaging times from 300sec .... my mount is capable of 1200 sec and beyond. .... and I need a lot more images stack. I will be adding more to my initial set of images as time and weather allows in the hope that I can improve my final image. Mike

Hi ... I am just trying to get into narrow band imaging and came across your excellent video on YouTube ... title "Simple Narrowband Processing " At the end of this video you suggest that you were planning to make a follow up video taking things further ... did you ever do one? Cheers Mike

Hi ... many thanks for sending the link ..... looks like I have a lot of reading to do :-)))

Hi .. Attached is my final image of M27 taken on four widely spaced nights over a period of almost a month. Had constant battles with poor USB connections and endless cloudy nights 😞 Even on the cloudless nights the seeing wasn't that good ... and I have to contend with a fair amount of light pollution here. I did 13 x 300sec CLS subs and only 3x300sec RGB subs. Images callibrated, aligned and stacked using MaxIm DL and processed using Photoshop ( I can't understand PixInsight yet despit many attempts!! ) I am a bit disappointed with the colour of my stars ... should I try to add a few more RGB images before M27 disappears behind some trees in my garden? Mike

Hi guys ... many thanks for your thoughts and suggestions. My new camera is a Moravian G2-8300 MkII ... with external 7 position filter wheel. I changed from my previous Moravian with 5 position internal wheel as I wanted to get into narrow band imaging.# The end cap is made from metal and is a very light tight fit .... so I will be carrying out my darks probably in the early evening sometime soon what ever the ambient temperature might happen to be and see what happens 🙂 Cheers Mike

Hi ... I have just upgraded my Mono CCD Camera and it is a long time since I made any calibration frames. There was always something that I wasn't 100% sure about ..... can I make my Dark Frames at any time of day or night??? My camera has very efficient cooling ... and is set to -20 C. Does this mean 20 degrees below the ambient temperature??? .... or .... is it really -20C below zero whatever the ambient temperature happens to be??? Cheers Mike

The Mirror newspaper wrote a truly awful article about Comet 168P that was pure drivel! It caused much derision in the BAA Comet group. Mike

I think that you will find that this comet does not exist anymore. As far as I know it broke up a couple of years ago and has never been located again. A quick search on the 'net ( including BAA comet section) will confirm this. Mike

Hi Solarboy ... Please tell us how you solved your problem . Cheers Mike

I have now managed to tease out another Prom from my original data. Definitely over processed but at least I can see it!