vineyard

Beautiful images.  A real 3D feel on the close-up features. 👏🏾

Hello,

I finally got round to processing some lunar shots.  This time with the Vixen 102M & ASI290MM.  Optolong UV-IR filter.  Software: FireCapture, AS!3, ImPPG, GIMP.

I was trying to get a 9 panel mosaic of the whole disk, but I just didn't get two overlaps right so there were gaps.  Next time!

Stay safe all,

Vin

On 28/02/2021 at 15:54, Mick J said:

@vineyard  Found this thread, possibly same as @Mognet  - thread here - second  post down.

Thanks @Mick J just downloaded it from there & it works a treat. Great, no need to use LR anymore.  Cheers!

At @happy-kat's suggestion in another thread, here's a lunar mosaic (3 panes).  Our most important satellite, notwithstanding Musk, Bezos & even the HST?

Telementor 2, ASI290MM, on a motor-modded Vixen SP mount.  Software used was FireCapture, then AS!3, then ImPPG, stitched in Lightroom, & then finished in GIMP.

I couldn't get as much magnification as H-K's earth shot above - dread to think the size of the scope and the focal length involved in getting that close!

(PS - apologies mods for misreading the guidelines & inadvertently posting feedback earlier in this thread on the amazing drone-shuttle footage further above, not sure how to delete that).

On 25/02/2021 at 19:37, happy-kat said:

Nice capture

Does you see imaging challenge #1

I saw your post about Microsoft ICE, hopefully that will be available soon it's a great sticher

I hadn't thought about that @happy-kat - been seeing the striking asteroid & artificial satellites pics posted on that & thought a simple old moon shot would be incongruous.  Still, nothing ventured nothing gained so why not.

PS v good earth shot you've submitted on that challenge - even HST couldn't get that much clarity! 

Thanks both @discardedastro & @JamesF.  I took your suggestion Discarded and saved a log of the mount - have posted it on Stellarmate support & Indilib forum - let's see what the feedback is.  Glad to see you resolved it James - gives me hope.  It used to work for me, but who knows what's happening now!

Cheers,

Vin

On 26/02/2021 at 12:16, Mognet said:

I can't find anything to say why it's not available. Doesn't seem to be available in their store either. Odd that the product page is still there. Also looks like they've disabled the ICE forum https://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/home?forum=ice No announcements on there either

A thread on DPReview says that it can be downloaded from the Internet Archive if you can find it on there

There also seems to be plenty of alternatives I haven't checked any of them out yet, although I do recognise three from before I discovered MS ICE

Thanks @Mognet yes its strange isn't it.  The only thing I could wonder is if they're getting ready to launch it as a commercial product.  That's a good idea re the Internet Archive - will try that!  Cheers.

Hello,

Hope all safe & well.  I'm going to check on Indilib forums too, but thought I would also post here in case anyone has faced similar problems recently.

Basically my EKOS doesn't actually do the meridian flip.  It correctly calculates when the flip is due (I've ticked the flip box & set it to 0.10 hrs) and when the time arrives, it says it's doing the flip, aligning post-flip etc, and that the flip has been done.  But the actual physical flip doesn't happen?

(I think I've changed how the mounting sits - earlier (when the flip used to work) I had the tightening bolts on the saddle on the right hand side (if you're standing behind & looking at Polaris) but now I have the on the left by basically rotating the saddle 180deg - could that be a factor?)

Cheers & stay safe,

Vin

1 hour ago, Robd said:

You  could save raw images as PEFs.  DSS has always coped with mine in the past.

Good idea, thank you.  I had switched to DNG b/c I thought the problem was w the PEF format but if it was just that I was using an old instal of DSS (hence the update fixing the DNG problem), maybe PEFs will also work.  I don't understand why updated DSS was still not calibrating the uploaded DNG files - but if you have found that it calibrates & stacks PEFs then I will try that next time I'm out w the DSLR 🤞🏾

Hello,

Just catching up w some of the amazing recent lunar images on here - wow!

Finally got round to processing & stitching my first ever lunar mosaic (JPEG for size).  The captures were done last Thurs 18 Feb, a Telementor 2 on a modded Vixen SP mount w an ASI290MM and an Optolong UV-IR filter, using FireCapture (first time for me).

Since the 290MM has a smaller FOV than a 178MM, needed to do mosaics.  Processing done via AS!3, then ImPPG.  Then 3 panes stitched in LightRoom (tried PI but it didn't align well at all, & MS ICE download site is down).  Then a bit of GIMP (mostly high-pass).

I just love looking at the moon (which is just as well since its Bortle 8 & 9 here otherwise for visual 😂).

Cheers all & stay safe,

Vin

You're going to start posting knockout lunar images as well as solar now aren't you  👏🏾

That's gorgeous - 11 panes in wind w manual placement?! 👏🏾

Thanks @neil phillips - appreciate that, it was my first time w FireCapture & also the ASI290MM, so quite happy w how that came out.  Well worth having sold my ASI178MC to switch into a better planetary mono...although my first attempt at FC, the 290MM & the Sun is 'a learning experience' let's just say 😂

Hello,

The Microsoft download site for ICE seems to be showing a 404 error.  Am I being really silly - I can see a number of other sites that claim to also download that but I'm wary downloading from random websites?

Cheers,

Vin

Lovely - you did catch that big one at about 1630 on the disc!

Beautiful images👏🏾 The third one is really perspective-setting!  It was a cracking show today wasn't it.  Was v windy here so I'm not sure how my attempts at image capture (w a little 50mm!) will come out.  But I was googling FireCapture settings on gain & gamma at the side of the scope (my first attempt w FC) & came across a helpful post from you on CN 🙏🏾

Cheers!

Oh no @Nigella Bryant I was thinking I wanted to see your images of that when I was watching it.  I did take some footage so will try and post that but as I was just experimenting w FireCapture, I don't have high hopes for how the settings will come out.

Thanks @Merlin hadn't heard of that before (doh!) so will check that out - helioviewer.org is also great fun to look at (especially the ability to drag the sun around in comparison to the Earth image for scale).

Go see if you can!

Hello,

Here's a quick process of Luna taken on 18 Feb. ASI290MM on a Telementor 2. Best 5% of about 800 frames (I think).  AS!3, ImPPG & then GIMP.

Hopefully more to follow later.

Cheers

5 hours ago, PeterCPC said:

All software can be weird in my experience. 🥴

Unfortunately the weirdness doesn't stop.

If I use SiriL to convert the DNG files to FITS then it does calibrate - suggesting that DSS is struggling w calibrating non FITS files?

Of course I forgot to debayer in SiriL so the final images turned out monochrome...

So then I went back and re-converted in SiriL (WITH debayering this time), restacked the master calibration files (so that they too were RGB 16bit/ch rather than Gray) and then when I tried to use DSS to stack the converted, debayered RGB FITS files with the new master calibration files (also RGB FITS), DSS would say unable to open the calibration files.

Even though there is nothing corrupt in them (I could open them in GIMP for example).

SOOO I went back and did the calibration in SiriL too, and then stacked the calibrated pre-processed files in both SiriL & DSS.  Just b/c I hadn't used enough time on this.

And this time both generated images in colour.  SiriL's is cleaner (but has less stars), DSS' seems noisier - but SiriL has much worse gradients.

What a palaver.  All I'm trying to do is process & stack DSLR RAW files! 😂🤯

Huh, I noticed I was using an old version so I updated it and all the DNG files now load

But...it doesn't look the calibration is happening b/c the calibrated image comes out looking exactly like the uncalibrated one (even the dust bunnies).  Will have to experiment some more.🤷🏾‍♂️

1 minute ago, PeterCPC said:

Why not convert them all before you load them https://convertio.co/dng-tiff/

Thanks, I'll try that w the calibration files & see what happens.  (It will probably kill my laptop memory since each TIFF file is so much larger, but I can just keep the master-calibration if it works). It's weird that DSS loads some DNG files & not others.

Hello,

I seem to have come up against a quirk in DSS.  I took various images on my Pentax DSLR - saved as DNG (a type of RAW file).

I can upload the lights as DNG files & DSS stacks them without any problems, generating a .tiff file.

But if try & upload the calibration files (darks, flats, dark flats) - which are also all DNG files - it doesn't even load them.

I've tried just loading them all as lights (ie, idea being stack them separately to generate a master .tiff for each type) but even then it won't load them.

Why would DSS load & stack some DNG files but not even load others?

Has anyone encountered something like this before?

Thank you!

Vin

Thanks @Neko yes you're quite right its 4/3 not APS-C, not sure how I confused that, doh!

That's a good idea re tilt - I ran it through ASTAP/CCDinspector and it looks like there is some (see screengrab).  Not sure if that might be causing some of the DSS stacking artefacts too?

I do have a tilter that I should fit in the train (its 11mm optical path which is exactly the length of the nose on the 294).  Will try that next time there's an oppty to set it up for a proper imaging session - its been so miserable or so intermittent for so long now.

Cheers & stay safe.

On 14/10/2020 at 22:19, ElwoodBlues said:

I use the evo has a guide scope and I'm in the process of putting this together myself for a widefield setup, just waiting for clear nights.

I have been using that adaptor you linked for filters on my 294 without issues.

I was kind of hoping I wouldn't get vignetting, but looks manageable.

Being relatively new to this hobby,I was more concerned about the image scale at 3.95pixels ,seems to go against all my research so far but I see some fantastic images at this scale and higher.

Hopefully I get outside soon and see how this goes. All part of the fun 👍

 

Sorry for some strange reason I only just saw this almost 4 months later.  Hope it went well for you!