endless-sky

When all you have is a 384mm at your disposal, galaxies (except for maybe two or three particularly big ones) are no bigger than a dust mote... 🤣 I also have a Celestron C8, but that would require probably a better mount, an OAG, and a different guide-camera. I have just started with the basic "wide-field" setup, so I am not there, yet. That's why, for now, I dread galaxy season!

I feel you. I have only managed 5 targets of the many, many more I would have like to capture, since October of 2020 when I finally got my imaging refractor. Now dreaded galaxy season is coming and won't be able to do much until May, when the Summer arm of the Milky Way starts to rise. And guess what? I had a whole week of clear, beautiful nights right across this last New Moon. Right when I didn't need them and couldn't do anything with them. Ain't Murphy a b***h?! 🤣

Thank you for the kind comment, Lee! Glad you liked it, too! And thanks to everyone that liked the images!

After a 20 year long hiatus - my last astrophoto was captured with a film camera in 1997 - at the beginning of 2020 I decided it was time to start again. So, January 25th 2020 I brought home my used Sky-Watcher NEQ6 Pro and I immediately started taking photos. Obviously, my first target was M42 in Orion. This was my first digital astrophotography. 31 subframes, 30s each, taken at ISO800 with my unmodified Nikon D90, Nikkor 70-300mm at 300mm f/6.3 - January 28th, 2020, home front yard, Bortle 5/6 sky, no guiding, no filters. A grand total of 15.5 minutes... A couple of weeks later, me and my wife went to spend Valentine's weekend in the mountains. Of course I couldn't avoid taking advantage of the Bortle 4 sky and I took all my gear with me. Same target, 52 subframes, 45s each, taken at ISO800 with my unmodified Nikon D90, Nikkor 70-300mm at 300m f/5.6 - February 14th, 2020, Tonadico, Bortle 4 sky, no guiding, no filters. 39 minutes total integration. After I finished post-processing the second photograph, I was so happy with the result. It felt amazing that I was able to capture so many details and more nebulosity compared to the photo taken from home. Months passed, gear was changed. First one being the camera: at the end of February I bought a Nikon D5300 and a couple of months later I astromodified it on my own, adding a UV/IR cut filter in front of the sensor, after cutting it to size. In October the rest of the setup finally arrived: Tecnosky 80/480 APO FPL53 Triplet OWL Series imaging telescope, Artesky UltraGuide 60mm f/4 guide scope and ZWO ASI 224MC guide camera. Also, an Optolong L-Pro 2" light pollution filter. After months of imaging and getting more experienced with PixInsight, it was just a matter of waiting before I could have another go at one of my favorite targets. And maybe give it a little more justice. This project took me more than a month, due to the rare clear nights opportunities I have had here lately. I started acquiring in January and finished a couple of weeks ago. M42 taken over 8 nights, under my Bortle 5/6 sky. Total integration time: 18h 04m 00s for the nebula. 714s (14s subs) + 2065s (35s subs) for the Trapezium and the core. Here are the acquisition details: Mount: Sky-Watcher NEQ6 Pro Telescope: Tecnosky 80/480 APO FPL53 Triplet OWL Series Camera: D5300 astromodified Reducer/flattener: Tecnosky 4 elements, 0.8x Guide-scope: Artesky UltraGuide 60mm f/4 Guide-camera: ZWO ASI 224MC 2021/01/12: Number of subs/Exposure time: 33@300s. Notes: L-Pro filter, no Moon 2021/01/13: Number of subs/Exposure time: 33@300s. Notes: L-Pro filter, no Moon 2021/01/15: Number of subs/Exposure time: 38@300s. Notes: L-Pro filter, Moon 8% illuminated 2021/01/18: Number of subs/Exposure time: 36@300s. Notes: L-Pro filter, Moon 30% illuminated 2021/02/13: Number of subs/Exposure time: 30@300s. Notes: L-Pro filter, Moon 4% illuminated 2021/02/14: Number of subs/Exposure time: 23@300s. Notes: L-Pro filter, Moon 9% illuminated 2021/02/15: Number of subs/Exposure time: 51@14s + 48@35s. Notes: L-Pro filter, Moon 15% illuminated 2021/02/17: Number of subs/Exposure time: 11@35s + 38@180s + 1@300s. Notes: L-Pro filter, Moon 30% illuminated Total exposure time (main integration): 65040s = 18h 04m 00s. Total exposure time (35s integration): 2065s. Total exposure time (14s integration): 714s. Pre and post-processing: PixInsight 1.8.8-7. Full HDR Version: Masked Stretch Version: Blended Version (50% HDR + 50% Masked Stretch): To my personal taste, I like the blended version the most. I think it brings out the best of both worlds (HDR and soft, less contrasty but more colorful look). I must say, I am very pleased and happy with the result. Not to boast, but I think I have come a long way since I started. Obviously the better gear and the much, much longer integration time helped. I think I actually spent more time post-processing it than acquiring it. Especially since I had to do the work almost twice: I post-processed the HDR and the Masked Stretch images separately, making sure I used the same processes and with the same strenght in both, so that I could combine them effectively, if I decided I didn’t like the look of the HDR alone. I also think I managed to tame the stars a lot more, compared to my previous post-processing attempts. As usual, here’s a link to the full resolution image(s): Orion Nebula (M42), De Mairan’s Nebula (M43) and Running Man (NGC 1977) Thanks for looking! C&C welcome!

Thank you, Lee! As long as I succeed sometime in the future, it doesn't matter how many times I fail until then. I'll keep trying!

Thank you, Martin. Yes, they do look kinda nice, but I would like to tone them down and reduce them just a bit. I am not a fan of a completely starless image, but I do love when people manage to get the "narrowband effect" on their star sizes.

Lee, I tried this method and while it works great on the stars, reducing the stretch and their size, I don't really like what it does to the "part of the image I care more about". Let me explain. If I check the "Rescale result", the stars are blended in nicely, but the main nebulosity loses a lot of stretching and gets toned down. It's almost like the nebulosity matches the stretch of the stars, which - with the main goal of rendering it as clear, bright and apparent as possible - defeats the purpose. If I don't rescale the result, the stars are still somewhat smaller, but their core looks completely saturated. Maybe I need to play with coefficients, instead of a direct 1+1 sum (for example, A1 + 0.5*A3, or 2*A1+A3) and try with Rescaling on and off and see what combination comes out the best. I haven't looked at the video, yet, but I am planning on doing so, soon. Thanks again for the tips, but it looks like I haven't found the light, yet.

Fantastic guide, Lee! Thank you very much! I'll definitely give it a try tomorrow. If you managed to get such a good result on a JPEG, I should be able to get something decent with the original data. Thanks!

Thank you very much, Giorgio! I tried, but then I don't really know how to work the stars back in, with different levels of stretching. I would like to see a detailed tutorial or guide. It's one of the steps that would definitely improve my post-processing, if I knew how to do it.

Thank you for the kind comments, Lee! Much appreciated!

I would like to share my fourth image. With my "lucky week" of imaging, along with M33, I managed to finish also this project. This is my longest integration to date. These are IC 405 and IC 410, also known as the Flaming Star Nebula and the Tadpole Nebula, respectively, taken over 7 nights, under my Bortle 5/6 home sky. Total integration time: 18h 29m 00s. Here are the acquisition details: Mount: Sky-Watcher NEQ6 Pro Telescope: Tecnosky 80/480 APO FPL53 Triplet OWL Series Camera: D5300 astromodified Reducer/flattener: Tecnosky 4 elements, 0.8x Guide-scope: Artesky UltraGuide 60mm f/4 Guide-camera: ZWO ASI 224MC 2020/11/18: Number of subs/Exposure time: 41@240s + 1@300s. Notes: L-Pro filter, no Moon 2020/11/21: Number of subs/Exposure time: 48@300s. Notes: L-Pro filter, Moon 46% illuminated 2020/11/24: Number of subs/Exposure time: 48@300s. Notes: L-Pro filter, Moon 75% illuminated 2020/12/07: Number of subs/Exposure time: 15@300s. Notes: L-Pro filter, no Moon 2020/12/13: Number of subs/Exposure time: 22@300s. Notes: L-Pro filter, no Moon 2021/01/10: Number of subs/Exposure time: 37@300s. Notes: L-Pro filter, no Moon 2021/01/11: Number of subs/Exposure time: 18@300s. Notes: L-Pro filter, no Moon Total exposure time: 66540s = 18h 29m 00s. Pre and post-processing: PixInsight 1.8.8-7. This image was particularly hard to process, since there are many bright stars and stretching the nebulosity while taming the stars was quite difficult. I am sure I didn't manage it as well as I would have liked. Here's a link to the full resolution image: Flaming Star Nebula (IC 405) and Tadpole Nebula (IC 410) Thanks for looking! C&C welcome!

Well, good to know, thank you! I'll definitely try it. Yes, good tip on the rotator screw, I noticed as well that if I do it too tight, it introduces tilting to the image. I have always turned it with my fingers, without forcing it, just enough that it doesn't come loose on its own.

Thank you! I must admit that I have never spotted it naked eye, but I took a look at it with my C8, from home. I would definitely like to see it - and Andromeda - just with my eyes!

Thank you, Giorgio! I thought the backfocus was supposed to be 55mm and I have been struggling to get it right. But then I saw on the website of teleskop-service in Germany that the backfocus for their 4 elements reducer is actually 61mm. Mine looks a lot similar to that one, despite it being a different brand. You saying that it needs to be 61mm also confirms the theory. Next Full Moon I will give it a try increasing it to 61mm and see things get better, thanks!

Thank you! I am mainly interested in nebulae, since right now I have neither the mount nor the scope to capture small galaxies. But M33 is fairly large and I gave it a try anyway. One hour here, one hour there (that's why it took me so long to finish it), while I was waiting for other targets to be high enough in the sky to begin imaging them. However, I was particularly pleased and had a wonderful feeling when I started seeing H-alpha regions (nebulae) appearing in the galaxy itself, as I was post-processing it. It is amazing that I can capture nebulae that are on a galaxy 2.9 millions light years away from us!