StuartT

Great! Thanks. I have been looking for a video on 2.5.1 but didn't see one. EDIT: ok so this is a nice overview of WBPP, but it doesn't tell you about the many new features.

If I'm honest, I am struggling with 2.5.1 - it seems to have a lot of new stuff which is causing problems for me. Presumably there must be a way I can revert to the previous version of WBPP? It's all kept in C:\Program Files\PixInsight\src\scripts\WeightedBatchPreprocessing so if I can find a download of the files that made up the previous version somewhere, I could just replace all the files right?

now this is an excellent idea!

Thanks everyone. I was thinking of switching out the L Extreme for the L Pro (which lets a lot more through), but the consensus would seem to be for no filter at all. In which case, have you any tips as to how to process out the inevitable skyglow? (I'm not used to shooting naked!) Presumably it's just a matter of good background extraction in PI?

Many thanks for this advice. I shall try this

Good point about two different stretches. I wouldn't have thought of that! I use GenHypStretch in PI which provides a lot of fine control. My LP isn't too bad. I am Bortle 5 ish

This is worth knowing. I think I will persevere and see what a few more nights can add. BTW - I do everything in PI (calibration, cosmetic correction, integration, post processing). It's a truly amazing piece of software.

thanks. Might it even be worth collecting two different exposure times? One for the core and one for the outer parts?

I'm a little underwhelmed by last night's work. This is 4 hours on the Iris Nebula with an Esprit 150, ASI2600MC and L Extreme filter. It took a lot of pulling and pushing to get even this. I guess it's just a very faint target and will need substantially more time. Also, I am not sure I should have used the L Extreme (since this is not an emission nebula). Maybe it's more of a broadband target? 300s subs

agree. Hard to see the market for this - not amateurs anyway

Thank you both! The camera (ASI2600MC) plays nicely with the Esprit for sure. I often use the dedicated 0.77 reducer, but not on this occasion, so it's at native f/7 I'm going to try and get some more tonight. Yes, the slightly 3D effect is thanks to the rather wonderful Generalised Hyperbolic Stretch in Pixinsight (my new favourite scipt) and a little Local Histo EQ

I decided my Edge 9.25 HD was the wrong scope for the Pacman. Too zoomed in and a poor image scale (0.33"/px). Also, I can't attach a filter to the Edge and I wanted to use my L Extreme (which I love!). So I swapped it out for my Esprit 150 and added the L Extreme. Here is 4.25 hours from last night.

pretty nice for only half an hour! 👍

Got a couple of hours on Pacman last night. Can't quite decide if I prefer the colours straight out of my OSC or the psuedo-Hubble ones. What do you think? (Edge HD 9.25", ASI2600MC, no filters, 29 x 300s)

totally agree! It's lovely. Coincidentally I am imaging it right at this moment!

I just tried the Optimum Exposure tool in NINA and it suggested 37s - this seems rather short

yes. 2600MC How can I know if I have swamped the read noise with background?

@vlaiv Can I just double check this with you? - my guiding is only at about 0.4"- 0.5" this evening. Do you still think it's ok to bin 1x1 (0.33"/px)? Shouldn't guiding be equal or better than image scale?

thanks. This was very helpful. I carefully stretched each channel first so as to ensure the H alpha wasn't overpowering. Then when they were combined I got a much more pleasing result. As you suggested, I then added (a more fully stretched) H alpha channel as luminance to add the interesting bits back in. I have learned a lot in the process. Much obliged Olly

Thanks. I think I have this fixed now. Somehow when I reconnected NINA it seemed happy to play nicely with EQMOD and track normally. I did some solar (setting to solar tracking) and the sun stayed put. So hopefully tonight, it will do the same when I do some galaxy-ing Sometimes things just seem to fix themselves and I never know what I did to bring it about!

ok, it now seems to be tracking if I connect only EQMOD, not NINA

yes

yep Ok. I've never used ASCOM Diagnostics, but I'll give that a go.

Ok, I've just re-set everything up. EQMOD and NINA report sidereal tracking, but the RA indicator in EQMOD is moving (1 sec per second) and Az is staying the same. So clearly the mount isn't tracking. I've no idea what I should look at to fix this

yes. EQMOD is being controlled by NINA. I've used this setup for about a year, so I know it works. My PA must have been a long way out to show trails though. Although I am at FL-2350mm so I guess it's a possibility.