lainev

First go at processing magnitude 10 comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko from this morning. Bortle 6 skies, average seeing, average transparency. 233 light frames at 15-seconds, f/2.4, and iso 800. 40 darks, 40 flats, 40 dark flats, and 40 bias frames. Sony a6400 camera, Samyang 2.0/135mm lens, Celestron Nexstar Evolution Alt-Az mount. DeepSkyStacker, StarTools, and Photoshop.

Galaxy M81, Bode's Galaxy, on 211027. Average transparency and average seeing. Bortle 6. ~43 minutes total integration of 11 second subs at 101 gain. No calibration frames. Normally I would use Darks, Flats, and Flat Darks. Celestron Nexstar Evolution 9.25, ZWO ASI533 camera, ZWO UV/IR Cut Filter, Celestron .63 Focal Reducer, CPWI for telescope control, and SharpCap for image capture. Image processed in Siril, Startools, and Gimp. I use Celestron StarSense for initial alignment (really works well for me), Celestron Electronic Focus Motor (eliminates scope shake when focusing). All of this is attached to an old Dell laptop. The laptop allows me to run the scope over WiFi from my home office.

Galaxy M81, Bode's Galaxy, on 211027. Average transparency and average seeing. Bortle 6. ~43 minutes total integration of 11 second subs at 101 gain. No calibration frames. Normally I would use Darks, Flats, and Flat Darks. Celestron Nexstar Evolution 9.25, ZWO ASI533 camera, ZWO UV/IR Cut Filter, Celestron .63 Focal Reducer, CPWI for telescope control, and SharpCap for image capture. Image processed in Siril, Startools, and Gimp. I use Celestron StarSense for initial alignment (really works well for me), Celestron Electronic Focus Motor (eliminates scope shake when focusing). All of this is attached to an old Dell laptop. The laptop allows me to run the scope over WiFi from my home office.

Christmas Tree Cluster, Cone Nebula, and various other nebulae on 211017. Bortle 6 skies, average seeing, average transparency. 15-seconds subs, f/2.4, and iso 800 for a total integration of 60 minutes. 40 darks, 40 flats, 40 dark flats, and 40 bias frames. Sony a6400 camera, Samyang 2.0/135mm lens, Celestron Nexstar Evolution Alt-Az mount. DeepSkyStacker, StarTools, and Photoshop.

Rosette Nebula, Caldwell 49, on the morning of 211017. Bortle 6 skies, average seeing, average transparency. 164 light frames at 15-seconds, f/2.4, and iso 800 for a total integration of ~47 minutes. 40 darks, 40 flats, 40 dark flats, and 40 bias frames. Sony a6400 camera, Samyang 2.0/135mm lens, Celestron Nexstar Evolution Alt-Az mount. DeepSkyStacker, StarTools, and Gimp.

At f/5 and 3.75 pixels a 3x barlow should be in the right range. Of course seeing, scope cooling, and collimation all rule.

I do have a 1.5 deg latitude advantage and a 600' elevation advantage over you.

. Average seeing and transparency. 90-second capture. 2,000 of ~8,000 frames stacked. Celestron Nexstar Evolution 9.25, Celestron 2x Barlow, ZWO ADC, ZWO ASI385 camera, ZWO UV/IR Cut Filter, CPWI for telescope control, and SharpCap for image capture. Image processed in AutoStakkert, RegiStax, and Photoshop. I use Celestron StarSense for initial alignment (really works well for me) and the Celestron Electronic Focus Motor (eliminates scope shake when focusing.) All of this is attached to an old Dell laptop. The laptop also allows me to run the scope over WiFi from the my home office.

Ok. Here is what I think happened. My Neptune subs were pretty dim. I believe that AutoStakkert lost track of several dim subs and put Neptune in the wrong place. To correct for this I raise levels a bit in PIPP and then stacked those subs. My "Proteus" disappeared. Apologies to all.

My mistake. This is not Proteus. Proteus, Neptune, and Triton on 211013 at 0101Z. This is my first capture magnitude 19.9 Proteus. Average seeing and transparency. 1,000 subs captured in 10 minutes. 750 stacked. Heavy stretch to bring out Proteus. Celestron Nexstar Evolution 9.25, Celestron 2x barlow, ZWO ASI385 camera, ZWO UV/IR Cut Filter, CPWI for telescope control, and SharpCap for image capture. Image processed in AutoStakkert and Photoshop. Image enlarged 2x with Topaz Gigapixel AI. I use Celestron StarSense for initial alignment (really works well for me) and the Celestron Electronic Focus Motor (eliminates scope shake when focusing.) All of this is attached to an old Dell laptop. The laptop allows me to run the scope over WiFi from my home office.

Remember that a mask is only useful on stars ... not moons. Moons are not point sources. Some people say that you should not use a star and use Jupiter's moons but Jupiter so close to your horizon you might do better using a star. For me Jupiter is 30 deg above the horizon so I use the moons. Just thoughts.

I also noticed that you might not have your ADC adjusted all of the way. Registax RGB Align had to adjust your image these amounts: redX +1, redY -1, blueX -2, blueY +1.

It looks like your focus may be off. Try focusing on a star that is 10 to 20 deg above Jupiter in elevation. Here is my go at processing your file. I did some rgb balance and some pretty heavy wavelet processing in Registax. How long was each capture?

If you haven't you should: - check collimation - set focus using the Jovian moons - set exposure at 70% of histogram - use WinJupos to derotate your video if the exposure is over 3 minutes. It seems that you image is over 10 minutes. - use Registax for wavelet sharpening. - I have basically same equipment and in average seeing I get (although I have an 11 degree latitude advantage. Jupiter must only be about 21 degrees above the horizon for you):

Jupiter on 211009 0115Z. A day on Jupiter is 9hr 56m. Here is 30 minutes of that day reduced to 10 seconds. I would have captured more but a tree got in the way. Average seeing and transparency. 12 1.5-minute captures collected in 30 minutes. One minute between captures. 1,000 of 10,000 frames of each capture stacked. Celestron Nexstar Evolution 9.25, Celestron 2x Barlow, ZWO ADC, ZWO ASI385 camera, ZWO UV/IR Cut Filter, CPWI for telescope control, and SharpCap for image capture. Image processed in PIPP (for HQ Linear Debayering and to generate the animation), WinJupos (for elimination of field rotation due to my alt-az mount and to create 3 additional derotated frames in between the original frames to make the animation smoother), AutoStakkert, RegiStax, and Capture One 21. I use Celestron StarSense for initial alignment (really works well for me) and the Celestron Electronic Focus Motor (eliminates scope shake when focusing.) All of this is attached to an old Dell laptop. The laptop also allows me to run the scope over WiFi from the my home office.