teoria_del_big_bang

That's a great idea to get a jump start.
Processing images can be as difficult, or harder, than the acquisition so wasting no time getting some practice in can only help.
Also, doing it this way from a reliable source means you know the data is good and you are not wasting your time processing poor data.

In fact there is some great data from the IKI observatory that was used for several competitions last year on SGL and may be exactly what you need HERE

What processing software are you using ?

Steve

I  went for THIS cheaper one, which fits fine but the padding is a little shallow so may have to do something to bolster it up a bit.
So it works but your selection look a better bet, maybe I will buy one myself and use this one for something else.

Steve

 

I have not had much time to look at much but did look quickly at the Rosette and my rendition is not great, but there were only 2 frames and no bias or darks in that directory so used them from another directory which may, or may not, help.
One thing I would say is that the background in your image to me looks too dark which probably means you are black clipping and losing some fine detail of the nebula.



My quick rendition is on the right and whilst the background maybe a little light see how there is so much more of the feinter stuff on the nebula itself.
More frames and maybe a better master flat (that could be me) then this has the makings of a really great image.

Wait for Carole's rendition I am sure that will be an improvement on mine 🙂 

Steve 

So far I see nothing really wrong with your data at all, looks pretty good (not an expert opinion though).

I am not sure if all your data is on that Google drive but I think further improvements would be:

• As @gorann states more data in the form of light frames really the key here.
• I notice some elongation of your stars, well on the Rosette frames anyway not looked at others (not a lot but its there). Are you guiding ?
  If not then maybe no need to take 300 sec exposures. You may get just as good final image with say 30 frames at 150 sec than 15 at 300 sec and half the elongation.
  Normally there is no need for 300 sec for OSC more used on NB stuff, but I hold my hand up I have no experience with OSC apart from early DSLR stuff so could be wrong.
  
• I am not saying strictly keep to the same gain and offset but if you can find what generally works best it helps in the long run to try and stick to one, or at least two or three combinations because darks and flats should be taken at same temperature, gain and offset (ideally) so means your darks library does not get out of hand.
  There is no real reason to keep changing the offset at all and it doesn't really matter what it is so long as it is enough to ensure the histogram is not clipped at the left hand side.
  There may be good reason why you are experimenting with gains but generally I think most cameras have a sweet spot of gain to use depending on what modes the camera can use.
• Take plenty of darks and make a master. From the directories I saw some only had 2 darks in them and at best 7 I think. As you are building a darks library take 20+, 50 probably more near the mark. Darks should ideally be same exposure, temperature, gain and offset as the lights you are going to calibrate with them.
• Again take plenty of frames for the  Flats, these are short exposures so taking plenty should not be an issue. I am not sure these are temperature dependent but if you have a cooled camera then it makes sense to do them at same temperature. They should also be done with the same gain and offset as the lights and with same setup as the lights, i.e. same camera rotation angle, same focus position so ideally do at end of each session.
• Bias, again more frames the better (to an extent) again same temperature gain and offset as lights. So if you settle on your gains and offsets you intend to use again you can have a library of master Bias frames that you can keep for 6 to 18 moths and reuse without making new ones. 

Steve

Just looking at some of your data (although I am far from being an expert on processing and still very much learning) but do you only have 2 x 300 Sec light frames for that rosette image ?

Also I only see two Darks at 300 secs and 11 at 180 seconds.
That's not really enough, if camera is fairly new and in good order I am not saying this will cause any major issue with final quality but personally I would be taking a minimum of 20 frames for each exposure time.
This may seem like a lot of work but if you keep all your imaging at same temperatures and gains (looks like you are working at a nominal of -10C although some frames seem to be up to -7C or so but I assume -10 was the actual setpoint target) the you can take darks anytime and make a library of all the exposure times you think you are likely to use, so maybe 60, 90, 120, 180, 240 and 300 seconds and take 20 to 30 of each and make masters from them. This can be done in a dark room with scope cover on anytime although I always try to do at night just to eliminate any possibility of stray light. These masters can then be used for at least 6 to 12 months, I think many use for even longer. So once done can forget about darks for quite a while. Flats do need taking (ideally anyway) each session.

Steve

If you are a Noob then you should be proud of those images, certainly better than my first images.

Quite often if you attach your raw files to a post somebody who is good at processing will have a quick go which may not give the absolute best final image as that takes a good few hours but they show at least the detail in there.

I am afraid that one thing people often do not let you know when taking up AP is that getting the data whilst is challenging, to say the least, is at best only half the story, and that processing can be harder to learn than the imaging itself.
 

There are so many tutorials about both free and ones you pay for for all the major processing software and it does take a lot of time and practice to get good at it.
But i do understand why you want to know the quality of your data and so perhaps the better approach would be to get some known good data and you process that and then you know you are working with good clean data.
There are several sites that offer this data and often images to show what the data can look like when processed well.
In fact there is some great data from the IKI observatory that was used for several competitions last year that is exactly what you need HERE

What processing software are you using ?

Steve

9 minutes ago, StuartT said:

If there is a need to add a luminance channel when RGB imaging, why not when SHO imaging?

People do add Luminance to NB.
I might sometimes have even done so myself to at least one of my NB images.
I have seen people use a synthetic Luminance made from the SHO channels, maybe some even use just the dominant channel (usually Ha),  then make that channel really contrasty and then add as Luminance (sparingly) to the SHO (or whatever pallet used).
I think some say not to use Luminance as it can reduce the natural high contrast you already get between the NB channels.

I say all this from stuff I have read rather than any huge knowledge of doing so, and so this is more my assumption rather than experience.
So my guess is that Luminance may help to bring out some details on certain NB images but not others and to only use it IF it does anything for you.
I guess often it could be just a lot of extra processing for very little return and so often just not worth it.

Steve

I too struggled some days to get -15 C indoors with my QHY268M but I find -10 C seems to be sufficient with this sensor.

Steve

1 hour ago, newbie alert said:

That's interesting to know, what do they do re-adjust collimation if it needs it?  How much did they charge?

I think so, as it happened mine did not need it but was in a good need of a clean that was just about all.
I think I paid £120 for the service but most of that was the Zygo test to check the optics themselves mainly for my peace of mind, apart from the cleaning, which I guess I could have done myself, nothing really was required to be done.

Steve

4 minutes ago, DaveS said:

For anyone on oil fired heating the cost of energy has made buying astro kit a non starter.

Yes heating oil has just gone crazy but for many on lower incomes, or on pensions (myself recently semi retired so took a big drop in income even when taking some of my pension) then even gas and electricity prices will stop many new astro purchases.

My thoughts are to get back to visual along side the imaging and turn the heating and lights off all night at least, and compensate that way. Maybe will also have to buy the wife a thick coat 🙂 

All joking aside, certainly for me I can see no big purchases in Astro gear for next year or two at least, something has to give and I cannot justify spending large amounts on my hobby at moment when there are everyday bills to pay.

Steve

11 minutes ago, Adam J said:

I don't know Steve its happened to me a couple of times, someone on ABS literally sold me a filter wheel with a obviously stripped thread on it and I have received a scratched filter, again ABS. 

In both those cases the sellers refunded. But recently I came to the conclusion that I wont ever buy an expensive item like a mount, scope, or camera without seeing it working first. My biggest one i fear is buying optics and they are hit and miss new let alone second hand, the scope itself can look great and be utter trash, there is just no way to test it at a motorway service station meetup on the M1. 

Adam 

Very true, and regarding optics it is very much hit and miss, often the seller may not be aware of the issues if not experienced. 
I bought my Esprit 2nd hand so not exactly cheap and did go to the guys house and take a good look, but I had no idea what to check. I seemed to have been lucky and after 3 years without any optical issues I had it recently fully serviced at RVO including a Zygo test and all came back good except needed a good clean of outer lens.
But even if you do this then a week or so later there is no guarantee the seller will return the money if there are any issues found and a repair could end up making it no cheaper than new.

I guess at least buying new gives you a lot more peace of mind regarding repair or refunds.

Steve

31 minutes ago, powerlord said:

Some folk are just nasty Adam. I bought and EQ6 from someone (not here)... the had an observatory, fancy expensive kit. etc. Nothing to not trust... but on getting home I found the screws all stripped, the ALT actually bolted solid, the '5 year old EQ6' turned out to be one of the first made (version of circuit board), and I'm still struggling to get it guiding nice... seller wanted nothing to do with it. Just makes me sad. Unfortunately ABS doesn't have a rating system.

Unfortunately you are right and some people do not see to have a conscience at all.
Over the years I have become quite distrusting of people I do not know and wary wary of buying 2nd hand, although to be honest the much maligned Ebay is actually very good at getting your money back in cases like this, but still not bought any astro gear off them as generally just too expensive anyway.
That just seems to be how the world has gone over the past years, too may people just willing to con others for monetary gain.
I think what makes buying 2nd had astro stuff open to abuse is that pretty much all genuine Astronomers (whether visual or AP) are very trustworthy (well seems to me so far) and all genuine Astronomers seem to look after their gear extremely well and in cases something is wrong or even suspected wrong with the gear they are selling are very honest.
So as a result I tend to trust them more than I probably should, fortunately buying mostly of SGL and on add item off ABS have been well pleased with my purchases.
So when this sort of thing happens and the seller just turns their back on any issues it is quite shocking.

I think I will continue to stick to 2nd hand from SGL mainly.

Steve

16 minutes ago, Rob_Jn said:

Hope I’m not off topic here but I’m considering buying the QHY268M and would like to know if I can hardware bin 2x2 and also does the camera support ROI for deep sky imaging? The ASI2600MM supports both in their specs.

thanks,

Rob

2X2 binning yes.

It does state that ROI is supported at higher frame rates but I thought this was only used for planetary imaging, but not used it so I cannot really comment.

Steve 

On 02/05/2022 at 09:24, Len1257 said:

Robert Brown has done several electronics projects related to astro. Best to follow from his menu page https://sourceforge.net/u/brownrb/profile/

I would add that some are (to me extremely so) complex so definitely read the pdf's in detail. 

The SQM+ is https://sourceforge.net/projects/mysqmproesp32/

Daughter Board is one of these https://sourceforge.net/projects/myesp-boards/

Anemometer for the above https://sourceforge.net/projects/mysqmproesp32/files/Wind Speed Sensor Anemometer/

 

Thanks for the info, I am going to have a go at this, it maybe above my capabilities with some of the stuff  but will give it  go.

I have ordered some PCB's for the main and daughter board and it was same price for 10 as 1 so if anyone cos across this thread and  is after either of these then pm me I may have some left 🙂 

Steve

I decided right from the start to keep at least backups of all my imaging stuff on an external drive, as you say compared to most astro equipment memory is cheap,  so I bought a 8Tb NAS hard drive that is actually two 4 Tb drives and backs up data on both at same time so if one drive goes faulty you still haver it on the other.

But then, not being a computer wizard, at first did not realize why mu PI processing was so slow and thought maybe just that's how PI was performance wise until back end of last year it occurred to me that just as you said the external drive over WiFi was the reason for the slow performance.

On 07/02/2022 at 16:54, Ouroboros said:

I assume the disadvantage of this would be that Pixinsight would process the externally stored data more slowly than when the data is on the internal hard drive.

So I bought one of THESE and what I do now is copy all required data for whatever project I am working on to this SSD (sometimes maybe just the PI saved project) and then work from that as that seems to be just as fast as an internal drive.

Another reason I chose this method is that I have a desktop and two laptops with PI installed and then can use either computer to continue the processing.
Unfortunately this drive had increased in price a lot since I bought it bit it is a great bit of kit, I can also save data direct to is as it is very small (about size of a swan vesta match box) and and easily plugs into my cpu on the mount running NINA.

Yes, its a bit of a faff transferring data back and forth if I want to reprocess some old data but not too bad as transfer is pretty quick and often I only have to transfer a copy of the PI saved project.

Steve

5 minutes ago, Len1257 said:

My Ender 3 is currently printing components for Robert Brown's SQM+ and ESP32DB. Housing, anenometer, wind vane etc., so easy to produce.

3D printing is just great for the iterive prototyping process. The costs of adjusting, modifying, tweeking in any other process would just be prohibitively expensive and long winded.

Oh, that sounds interesting do you have links to these for further info ?

Steve

16 minutes ago, Chaz2b said:

It is of great loss that Gina passed away earlier this year, she had so much experience with printers and would of been a good benefactor to us, 

Absolutely,  such a great loss.

16 minutes ago, Chaz2b said:

If there is a chance that we can have a dedicated board for 3D then I’m sure it’ll be well attended.

I too suggested that there was enough interest to have a dedicated board sometime ago, maybe not officially but just as a suggestion in another 3D printing thread.
As well as individual threads we could then have a pinned thread with tried and tested stl files for people to share with each other.
I know this forum is not a 3D printing forum but so many people now using 3D prints to enhance their setups.

Steve

A good effort actually.
I do not think I have really seen an interesting image of this target, certainly by amateur imagers. It does tend to be a fairly bland target with little colour  on most of them I have seen.

Steve
 

To be honest when I changed to using NINA (from KStars and EKOS) I did not take much notice of the PHD setup but now I look it seems to be using 8 bit.

But I can also select 16 bit and that seems to works also but until my next session I cannot see if it makes any difference to the guiding.
My personal thoughts would be that I will now try guiding on the same night using both 8 and 16 bit and if there is no difference in the results I will stick to 8 bit as this should allow faster frame download and generally less load on whatever computer you are using.
 

Steve

I do not think theres any right or wrong here and if its guiding on 16 bit and not loosing any frames then should be fine.
I will try to power my rig up if I can and see what I have set in PHD2 ( ASI290MM mini ) my rig is dismantled at moment.
I think I have used both 8 and 16 bit in the past and saw np difference,

Steve

I am pretty sure 8 bit is normal for guiding with this camera.
Does it actually work with 16 bit okay ?

Steve

I have been using Rother Valley Optics and would recommend them but a long way from yourself.

What about giving FLO a ring or email they are probably as close as anybody and may be able to help ?

Steve
 

1 hour ago, cardconvict said:

Hey could ypu recommend which package you went for as I'm seriously considering this. Just alot of money to chuck in all at once shame he does not do a subscription 

It does seem a lot of money and that did put me off for a couple of months but I knew I was not getting the most out of PI and thought that as I already had a lot of cash invested in equipment and in PI itself that it was something I needed to try, so took the plunge.
So I went for the Fasttrack training and have learned loads of stuff, a lot to do with the processing but also a lot of tips just to do things faster or easier.
I actually emailed Adam and said I had seen his presentation on SGL and was impressed and wanted to see some more of his training but was worried the cost was high and he replied to say if I did not like them he would refund me my money but I never asked for a refund.

The whole set of lessons take some time to get through so you will not be proficient in a week or two but quite quickly they really help you get to grips with PI and work much faster and more confidently.

One problem I do find with PI (even though I love it now) is that it is constantly developing and although there are hundreds of videos on line many are now so outdated that its not really the best way to process your images anymore, yes the methods still work as all the old processes are still there but there are also much better processes to use (certainly in some cases).
So it's a bit of a good thing and bad thing as yes it's good that the software does not stand still and does develop but not so good you are constantly learning.
But to be fair to Adam he does try to keep coming back and updating the lessons as some of this new stuff appears.

One downside I would say is that he does not do a lot with NB stuff mainly LRGB, I guess he does not have the light pollution issue many of us suffer from, but he is trying now to add more NB stuff.

Steve

1 hour ago, cardconvict said:

Know worries just come back into the hobbies after along time away and this actually came up in a Google search and I wanted to see the video

Well worth it, after seeing it the first time I actually subscribed to some of his other stuff and learned so much regarding Pixinsight.

Steve

9 hours ago, cardconvict said:

And 

I didn't think it was still available, but as it is I will watch again it was a good talk 🙂 

Steve