barbulo

That’s part of the deal, isn’t it? Step by step, always improving, climbing the learning curve. Looking back puts our job in perspective and evidences the difficulty of our hobby. Good job!

Welcome to the Lounge!

DSS creates a master file (.tiff for the calibration frames, darks in your case) every time you run a stacking process. If you don’t have light frames to stack, you can use any frame (no matter the image but with the same exposure time, but at least one) and stack it using your dark frames. Having said that, you don’t need a master file to calibrate lights; you can use the original dark frames every time you stack.

Hi and welcome to the Lounge!

Hi and welcome to SGL

Big words coming from you, Olly. Thank you very much. That was probably beginner's luck.

Second rendition, hopefully improved. I think it now looks less ”artificial”. Comments always welcome.

I fully agree with @ollypenrice that most of YT tutorials are not that useful. They’re normally workflows valid for perpetrator’s tastes and abilities. However, you can learn something from them now and then. IMO, processing is such a creative activity, and programs are so complicated, that there is no way you can learn all the insights of a given one. For me as a beginner, the most difficult part of processing is to identify what should I have to do with my data (not what the program is able to do, which is surely far more than I need), and how, to obtain the best of it according to my taste. And I don’t think anybody can teach you that. That’s part of the “art”. Just my view.

I use a mini PC on the rig, running APT, PHD2 and CdC under W10, remotely accessed from my iPad or MBP using Microsoft Remote Desktop. For pre and post processing I used DSS, SiriL and Photoshop. Now I’m testing a free demo of Pixinsinght: very powerful though not very intuitive. HTH

Sure @vlaiv I’ll re-process it the upcoming cloudy nights and will pay attention to the denoising stage. Thks!

Hi all, This is the result of my first project using the ASI294MM (and one year after the AP bug bit me). Took three nights (THREE ALMOST-CLEAR-NIGHTS IN A ROW!!! 🙂) with the moon very close by ☹️. Total integration time slightly less than 8hr. Ha: 43x300s OIII: 29x300s SII: 23x300s. Calibrated with Darks, Flats and Dark-Flats. I’m quite happy with the outcome, but please post any comments you may consider. Thanks in advance!

Hi and welcome to SGL!

Welcome to SGL!

Welcome to the Lounge!

I'm far from being an expert, though here are my two cents: Lunar/planetary imaging technique is called "lucky imaging": catch as many frames per second as possible to minimise the atmospheric influence. A dedicated camera is the best way to go, and they are not very expensive. ASI290 or ASI224 are good choices. DSLRs are better for long exposures (DSOs). Regarding the optics, SCTs should be a good choice. Bear in mind there is a magnification limit for a given FL, so not any barlow lens will match every scope. Finally, you don't need guiding for lunar imaging, but you want a sturdy mount to prevent any vibration. HTH

Did you use calibration frames? Flats might help with the vignetting.

Hi Jacqui, and welcome to this hobby. You surely won’t be disappointed.

Welcome to SGL!

Hi Martin and welcome to SGL. I would go for the EQ6-R Pro without any doubt. And now it's in stock! Skywatcher EQ6-R PRO Mount | First Light Optics

Wow, what a start! Congratulations and welcome to SGL. I've recently moved to mono too, with your same camera and filters, and I'm willing to start my first project. I wish it was half as good as yours.

Thank you very much @ONIKKINEN According to the tool, the distance is around 14mm, so it must be the filters. To be honest, when I mounted them in the FW I didn’t realized they have different coating in each side. 😰 I’ve opened it and turned the Ha and SII around putting the glossy side towards the scope. This difference is not so evident in the broad band filters, so I wonder if they will produce the same artifacts. Will see.

A warm welcome from Rheinland-Pfalz, Rob.

Yes they are! Forming a pattern! Isn't it weird? Didn't have a chance. I'll check next clear night.

Thank you Tony, but I don't think so since they're not present in the flat frames. They're there even after pre-processing the lights with Darks, Flats and Dark-Flats.

Hi all, Yesterday I had a small window of opportunity to take the first lights out of my new 294MM. I took a few shots through the ZWO NB filters and the images showed these weird artefacts: This example corresponds to the SII filter but they're present in other filter's lights. I've searched the web but didn't find a conclusive answer. Any clue of what's wrong? Anyone experiencing similar issue with this camera and/or filter? Thanks in advance.