Taman

I've just seen an image on Astrobin, it already has a nice tail. Currently moving slowly through Virgo, so should be observable once the Moon has gone. https://www.astrobin.com/aufl8o/

Here is version 2.3 which I am currently using, downloaded last month from https://nighttime-imaging.eu/. The file is safe, but for obvious reasons please scan it before opening and install it at your own risk! Hope this helps. Cs, Tony. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Xu8qTyphrKStILgNiwlXdl3L31jlsH5z

A rare clear night spoiled by the Moon. Rather than waste it, I thought I'd try out an infrared filter as an experiment. The amount of detail is surprising, even though I didn't use a Barlow or proper planetary camera. It's worth zooming in, craters down to 1 mile across are clearly visible. I'll have to try experiments like this more often! 4 part mosaic, each part a stack of 200 frames. Captured with FireCapture, processed with Astrosurface and Photoshop. Mosaic stitched with Microsoft ICE. Celestron C11 at f6.3, ASI294MM Pro, Astronomik ProPlanet 742 IR filter. Clear skies! Tony.

PK 164+31.1, Jones-Emberson 1 - The Headphone Nebula. Due to the poor weather, my only image so far this year. Taken over 4 nights in Jan, Feb and March. Stacking was done using Sirilic, with processing in Siril, Starnet++ and Photoshop. I used Pixelmath to create a luminance layer and combine the image in the ForaxX palette. I also took some RGB stars, but couldn't use them because of the competition rules. So for this image, stars from a colour calibrated HOO version were used instead. 69 x 360s HA, 61 x 360s OIII, total 13 hours. Celestron C11, Starizona 0.63 SCT Corrector, ASI294MM Pro, Optolong HA & OIII filters.

Thanks Tomato! Apparently it's the 3rd largest galaxy behind Andromeda and Triangulum and if it wasn't hidden behind the dust, it would be a naked eye object! I had a quick look on Astrobin and there aren't many images of IC 342 taken with the C11, most are with a wider field of view. I found it quite difficult to get a nice image out of it, which is probably why. Cs, Tony.

IC 342 is part of the Maffei Group of galaxies, between 7 and 11 million light years away. Known as the hidden galaxy because it's obscured by a thick layer of dust from our own Milky Way, which makes it a tricky target. First clear night since October and a change of focal length. I spotted this interesting galaxy in Stellarium and thought I'd give it a go. Seeing was poor and APT was crashing when I tried to connect it to the focuser (Pegasus Astro Focus Cube), so I focused manually as best I could and let it run. The result is far better than I expected! Now I need to do some tests on the focuser. Celestron C11 at 1700mm with Starizona reducer, ASI294MC Pro and Optolong L-Pro. 75 x 300s, total 6 hours 15 mins. Processed with Siril, Starnet++ and Photoshop. Clear skies! Tony.

Thank you to Grant and Ikarus for sharing this data, it gave me something to do during this long spell of poor weather. Here's a ForaxX SHO version processed in Siril and Photoshop. I had some Deja Vu with this one, as it looks very similar to an image I took in October with the same framing! I used Graxpert to remove a slight gradient from each image stack, followed by histogram stretching in Siril. Pixelmath was used for the basic SHO combination with a luminance layer to control contrast and give it an extra boost. ForaxX SHO: R = (Oiii^~Oiii)*Sii + ~(Oiii^~Oiii)*Ha G = ((Oiii*Ha)^~(Oiii*Ha))*Ha + ~((Oiii*Ha)^~(Oiii*Ha))*Oiii B = Oiii Luminance = (Ha^2 + Oiii^2 + Sii^2)/(Ha + Oiii + Sii) More information can be found at: https://thecoldestnights.com/2020/06/pixinsight-dynamic-narrowband-combinations-with-pixelmath/ The stars were removed with Starnet++, with further stretching, SCNR, colour saturation and contrast equalization. I also created a lightly stretched colour calibrated HOO version to use as a star mask. All the layers were brought into Photoshop for final processing with levels, curves and colour adjustments. The stars had a few problems mainly on the right side of the image, which I managed to "repair" with the blend mode darken - nudge method. It's not scientifically accurate but looks nicer than it was! The high pass filter was used for sharpening, with further slight sharpening and noise removal in Topaz Denoise. Good luck everyone and clear skies! Tony.

Another vote for a filter drawer, rather than a filter wheel. Also if you do get the wheel, you will need a ZWO T2 tilt adaptor to attach it to the camera. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/zwo-accessories/zwo-t2-camera-tilt-adjuster-ii.html The 7 position wheel was designed for the higher end ZWO cameras which already have the tilt adaptor and the appropriate screw holes. Tony.

Thank you! It turned out much better than I thought and getting the Soap Bubble was the icing on the cake! Tony.

Thank you! Yes after some experimenting, I've made 10 mins my standard time with this combination. The added bonus is very little noise in the final image. Good luck with the clear weather! Tony.

Conditions were poor, so I was pleased to capture the faint Soap Bubble Nebula for the first time. There's also a nice little "D" shaped planetary nebula to the left of the image Abell 69, which I spotted after removing the stars. Taken over 2 nights earlier this month. 58 x 600s, total exposure time 9h 40m. Processed as a modified HOO (ForaxX Palette) using Siril, Starnet++ and Photoshop. Dual FLT91 (side by side), ASI294MM Pro, Optolong H-alpha and Oiii filters. Comments and critique welcome. Clear skies! Tony.

I think the argument has already been won with just this image, 22 hours of data in only 3 nights, although it did take a month to get the 3 nights! 😁 Which scopes are you using for your dual setup? Tony.

Thanks Chris! I've been using AstrodenoisePY for a few months. I use it on very low settings, sometimes on "0" and I found it's good for removing very fine noise and increasing the contrast. With higher settings it does seem to blur the image though, which means sharpening it again and adding back some of the noise! I only tried Topaz for a few minutes before buying it! Tony.

Thanks for the info, I've got a lot of experimenting to do! One thing I noticed is that if you leave the stars in, they look a bit odd after the denoise process. I normally work with starless images, so not a problem for me, but it may be an issue for others. Another thing I will do is to add the denoised image as a layer in Photoshop, that way the effect can be controlled by reducing the opacity if necessary. Tony.

I installed the trial version of Topaz Denoise and was so impressed I've now got the full version! Here's the result, not perfect but much better than it was. Perhaps it could take a tiny bit more sharpening? Thanks again Simon! Tony.