CaptainKingsmill

Apologies for the delay, Work has been quite busy this week. So I've had a couple more attempts, and I found something interesting. For speed I started processing just half the images.... and as if by magic... I've not done much processing on it, but there are no artefacts at all. I genuinely didn't expect that halving the data simply to speed up processing would make any difference. It's then that I took a deeper look at the data and noticed a cast change as shown below, possibly a condensated secondary?, as I didn't notice any mist, fog, or high level cloud. I'm really not sure The detail in them looks about that same as does the focus, it just appears to be a change in colour, is something like this going to have an effect on the stacking process? (we wont talk about how lazy my tracking is if I'm shooting lunar)

I'm afraid I can't help you diagnose your problem but I just wanted to say that is a lovely image of M42 regardless

Hello all, Thanks for your help in getting to the bottom of this. - I would usually have discarded the data by now, but I'm determined to find out what goes on that causes it. I'll try and reply to all your points. I have tried this just, but got totally garbled data, so I don't think I added enough - I'll try this again tomorrow. I also have a 10% from the same data set which is below. same issue. I did actually run both just to see if it made much difference, just uploaded the above screenshot This is an unmodified canon 2000D, which has worked fine before, such as for my profile picture. I initially put all the frames into PIPP to crop them to the right size, however I have also tried directly using the frames I captured into AS! to rule out some funny business in PIPP - Same result. I'm going to have another play around tomorrow morning, trying some more of your suggestions, I can't see how it could be the data itself but i'm running out of other options.

Certainly can Sir. this was the settings from last night This morning I have also tried setting it to surface out of curiosity. I've tried AP 312, Best 10% of frames. All with similar results.

I sometimes get artefacts on lunar images that I stack in AutoStakkert, they are usually manageable, so I play around with the settings and sometimes I can make them go away. However my process is quite unscientific and I've not managed to nail down what it is that causes it. As a result I sometimes end up scraping the data and recapture is when I next get some clear skies. This latest one is a total mess, the worst I've ever seen, with similar settings and processes that I usually use. 50% of 800 frames. The below is an example, one with AP size of 24 and one of 200. a noticeable difference, but a bad one.... The left if the AP200 the right is AP24. and below is a single frame, just for reference. Any points, thoughts, or directions would be very much appreciated. Original frame

Finder scope stays on because it's quite a cheap one. and the scope and mount go into my shed. - with them being stored outside at the same temperature, I'm happy to put the caps on these right away without fear of trapping moisture in. It's easier to store in my shed if I take the scope off the mount, but more often than not I'm too lazy and it stays on the scope with the intention of taking it off for better storage the next day.... That rarely happens, although that does mean the scope is already on the mount for the next night so my laziness has some perks. As for eye pieces, cameras, mount electronics (but not the motors), they all come inside the house. I will then generally leave all cases / boxes and lens caps open/off till the morning (much to my wife's displeasure), to ensure they are up to normal temperature and any condensation has left them.

Thanks for that. I think your first point must be it, that I simply didn't capture the colour due to the shorter frame time. I've tried to bring it out in editing by boosting saturation and vibrance, but I just end up oversaturating the little colour that is there almost like the colour data just isn't there. The nice thing about learning on M42, is that because it's so bright I can practice various techniques, sometimes multiple techniques in one night and not feel like i've wasted hours and hours only end up with junk. i'll try upping my exposure again next time we get a clear night, see what happens then.

I just want to share with you guys how far i've come in the last year, mostly because of the helpful people here on this forum, most of the time I don't even need to ask my questions, a quick search here and some helpful soul has already answered it! I've been steadily improving my technique over the last year or so, gradually increasing exposure time, calibration frames etc and i've captured my most detailed M42 shot to date.... The weird thing about my latest effort is, while there is clearly a lot more detail, I seem to have lost a lot of colour. if anyone has a clue why that might have happened, I'm all ears. Anyway! here are my four captures of Orion over the last year or so, Thanks for reading 15x60sec subs at iso1600 in B5 skies - End of 2020 I can' seem to find the acquisition details for this one - Early 2021 80x40seconds ISO1600 F2.4 - November 2021 Canon 2000D Samyang 135mm No calibrations 300x30 seconds Light frames Iso1600 F2.8 - 5th Jan 2022 50x30 second darks 30 Flats 30 Bias Canon 2000D Samyang 135mm It's clear the impact the calibration frames have had on reducing the noise in my final image, and the increased total integration time has really brought out some extra detail within the core, but as you can see I've lost a lot of the colour. I'm not sure what has caused that. I only changed a couple of parameters: stopped down lens to F2.8 from F2.4, decreased exposure time from 40-30sec increased total exposure time I suppose it could have also been the way I edited it, but that was fairly consistent in both. I'll change one of them back next time and see what I get. Anyway, Thank you for looking, despite the loss in colour detail I'm really pleased with how far I've come so far. Clear Skies

Finally managed to capture the Cassini division on Saturn and I'm very happy Taken on my 8inch newt, 3x barlow Best 40% of 20,000 frames taken on a ZWO224MC I tried with a 5x Barlow, but I think that is pushing the limits of my equipment and ability a little too much so the results we're no better. Now, I think I can definitely still get better results with my current set up based on others that i've seen. I think my limit currently is a combination of my ability to focus , seeing, and my limited skills at collimation. - The latter seems like a dark art. Regardless, I'm happy that I can see the division for the first time on an image I'd captured. Hopeful to get another shot at this before this beautiful planet gets too low to make it worth while.

Can I just weigh in that the EQ3 and the EQM35 are not equivalent, and the EQM35 is definitely not significantly worse than an EQ5. The EQM35 is a perfectly capable mount for entry level astrophotography, and actually has a higher rated payload (although only by a little) and greater precision than the EQ5 due to it's 180tooth RA gear and modern design. It also has a higher degree of flexibility as it can be used in RA only mode which might even be more useful for OP. That being said, OP just has a camera and some lens's, even a EQM35 would be overkill. Something like a star adventurer as @jefrs has suggested would be perfectly fine for his current needs ( and probably a sturdier tripod)

Lovely stuff! I really like the warmness of it and the dust lanes are great! loads of details,.

I had a similar debate as you this weekend with what to shoot being graced with clear skies. Being fairly new to AP, most of the things I'm shooting at the moment are first time attempts for me. Just like you, I was thinking of the pleiades, despite their proximity to the moon. Initially tried a 16min run at 2min subs as a bit of a test on Sunday night and managed to get some reasonable nebulosity so last night gave it another attempt, this time for 1hr 30min thinking I should get some really nice nebulosity. and got worse results than the previous night!! 😆 Almost no nebulosity what so ever. no idea why.... I suspect it is the processing, and not the data itself. Such is the learning curve of AP.... I think I'll give them another go when the moon isn't a factor. 🤷‍♂️

👋 Hello 😀

Thank you for such a detailed explanation of the reasoning. very interesting indeed! I've read that these EP's perform better with slower scopes, with some claiming they shouldn't go anywhere near anything faster than F5 so I'm interested to see if my amateur eye can tell the difference when I test it in my F5 newt vs my F9.8 refractor. I got a very brief window to use them last night for the first time, and the views are simply miles ahead of the my stock lens! Beautiful views of Jupiter before the cloud and fog rolled in,

I've just invested in my first 2 eyepieces that didn't come stock as part of a telescope. Despite owning a telescope in some form for many years, being more of a photographer than a visual viewer i've never seen fit to use my funds for visual stuff despite knowing my eyepieces were crap. - But I dropped my trusty 20mm Plossl and bust it up so it was finally time. After a bit of looking around I settled on the Hyperion 68, I picked up a 10mm and a 21mm for now and I'll probably expand that as and when funds allow. .....My goodness they're HUUUUGE!! I'm not sure what I was expecting, but having no frame of reference and only ever using stock plossl's I just assumed that they would be similar in size just with better optics or something, How wrong was I. But anyway, I'm very impressed with the build on these, and now just can't wait to get an opportunity to get out any use them, which feels like never with the weather at the moment.