Iem1

Hey man, I am a beginner to processing images myself, but I had a go in PS. I struggled to keep colour balance under control (Still not fully under control lol) and I couldn't do much more stretching before completely blowing out the image.

Hopefully some of the skilled people will be able to help you out a bit more, but it is a nice image! Dust lanes look nice  

4 hours ago, alacant said:

Hi

Greatly improved. There's loadsa detail.

A touch of diagonal noise which could easily be eliminated by dither between frames.

Cheers

That is a nice process! I really need to look into startools again  

I think I am going to try manually dithering tonight, am I correct in thinking I can simply use the RA keys on the SGP to move back and forth between frames? My subs are max 60 seconds, so it is a lot of extra work over the course of the night!

Do I need to adjust DEC too?

Pondering targets for tonight...Thinking about another run at the Triangulam galaxy to get a cleaner image than my last attempt!

Great shot!

Thank you Stuf  I am quite pleased with it!

Gave editing another go this morning after a nights sleep, same basic process but done a bit less stretching.

Morning guys,

Just returned from a night of imaging, making the most of the clear and moonless night. I thought I would have another go at trying to capture The North America nebula to try and improve on my first attempt.

The first attempt, taken about 6 weeks ago: 1 hr 20 of 2 minute exposures at ISO 800 captured by a WO Z73 III  + field flattener with an astro modded Canon 600D, all riding on a SGP (Unguided)

I think it was my 3rd or 4th attempt at doing any astrophotography at all, so there was a lot that went wrong  

Tonight I decided to go for round 2, but this time I wanted to see what (if any) detail I could see in the Cygnus Wall and hopefully see some improvements on my first attempts. 

Second Attempt taken tonight: 1 hr 50 of 1 minute exposures at ISO 800 captured by a WO Z73 III  + field flattener with an astro modded Canon 600D, all riding on a SGP (Unguided)

I know it is a very noisy image with all that walking noise, being heavily cropped probably doesn't help and my processing skills are shaky at best, but I am super pleased with the progress considering it is with the same equipment about a 6 weeks apart!  

I stretched and balanced colour in PS and reduced stars a bit, but any suggestions for improvements are more than welcome  

As always, the original untouched tif:

Autosave002.tif

Perfect! Thank you for the responses guys, going to check out the links and place my order, hopefully give it a shot next week

Hey guys,

Just looking for advice regarding solar imaging with my setup. I do not have an ideal setup for it at all, but I think it will be still a bit of fun to give it a shot.

I have a WO Z73 III + field flattener with an astro modified Canon 600D, all riding on a Sky guider pro for reference.

I am aware I need a solar filter for the scope to avoid a catastrophe, so am I correct in thinking that I need to purchase something like this: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/solar-filters/baader-astrosolar-safety-film-nd-50.html to make a filter? Is this all I need over the scope to safely image?

I would prefer something like: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/solar-filters/astrozap-baader-solar-filter.html but the smallest size they do is 85mm - 95mm, and my Z73 is 72mm I believe 

Perhaps something of this nature? https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/seymour-solar-sf375-375-type-2-glass-solar-filter.html

Is there a best method to image the sun? multiple short exposures stacked? 

Apologies for the barrage of questions/links, I have never imaged the sun before so I want to be sure I have the right equipment etc and I am doing it safely and not going to damage my equipment. Cheers guys

FOV for my setup, it is not ideal, but its a bit of fun!  

1 hour ago, Toaster05 said:

Seems like the logical upgrade really. Another consideration could be an iOptron GEM 28 or a CEM 26. They would be pretty much an equivalent to the HEQ5.

I'm in a bit of a similar position myself in that I have a SGP and will be looking to set myself up with a go-to mount in the near future.

Personally I'm leaning more towards the iOptron mounts. I guess the real question you have to ask yourself is what do you think you'll want to achieve with the mount? Will you be looking to upgrade your scope in the future? All these things should be considered as you can quickly find yourself looking at that mount and thinking "Why didn't I get xxxxx?"

I'm not a mount expert but it's something I've been mulling over too so I thought I'd chip in.

Those iOptron mounts do look very nice!

A bit more expensive, but keeping with the colour of my red and white WO Z73 a bit more too...I read having an aesthetically pleasing rig increases SNR by 20%.. 

I have no immediate plans of upgrading my scope, still nowhere close to seeing the full potential of my scope yet, having only experienced unguided SGP imaging...but something to bare in mind.

imaging payload capacities of 11KG - 12 KG-aa stated on the website seems good. My full planned setup including the guiding system would fall around 5.5KG give or take, and I think I have read people recommending to stay at about half the recommended payload for optimal results, given that manufacturers are going to state generous parameters. 

thank you for the suggestions, will do some research on them

Afternoon folks,

Im sure this question has been asked a thousand times, so apologies, but I just wanted some input on upgrading my mount.

I currently have a very simple set up consisting of a WO Z73 + flattener with a astro modded Canon 600D, all riding on a Sky Guider Pro with a Sky-Watcher 3/8" stainless Steel tripod.

I am looking into getting a more serious mount with better overall performance and capable of holding my current setup + any future upgrades (a guiding system/ASIairpro etc)

I am currently looking at the HEQ5 Pro:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/equatorial-astronomy-mounts/skywatcher-heq5-pro-synscan.html

Seems like a solid all rounder if I am not mistaken. Am I on the right tracks by shooting for this mount, or do you think there is something else that would be better suited?

Thanks for any input guys.

I will look into that, be great if I can make it a bit smoother

Here is where I got in PS, will give it a shot in star tools soon too! Had to work around those two prominent bands, one of them cuts straight the galaxy and it shows, but its as good as i am going to get it I think

I gave startools a try but I found it to be very slow on my laptop, PS/GIMP/SirL work quick and easy.

But I think I will give startools another go, it seems to be highly recommended, I just need to get used to it and spend time on it.

Il post my results here soon

Good work Alacant!

I have just managed to remove the glow in PS, but I will run another stack minus the dark frames, repeat steps to remove glow again and see where I am at with it.

And yes, the walking noise is worse than usual in this image. Is that reflective of dropping from 60 to 30 second subs perhaps?

I can not wait to get an a guiding system in place along with a more suitable mount, will hopefully see a big difference in quality with the extra tools at hand.

Thank you vlaiv!

Appreciate you having a look, Il run through each sub and keep an eye out for issues

All the help is much appreciated as always

4 hours ago, vlaiv said:

That sort of looks like amp glow, but could be a light leak as well.

What does your master dark look like?

Do yo use viewfinder cover when taking your subs?

Not for the light frames, but ironically this was the first night that 'closed' the 600D's screen, so there was no bright display light present through the imaging!

I was not planning on taking dark frames as I have read they are not necessary for my camera, so I was going to try without. But I decided I may aswell just incase, but I took the dark frames after I took the flat frames, around 05:30 when is was fairly bright. I covered the scope with jackets and anything I had to hand hoping it would help, but I am sure they are not ideal. Also, my intervalometer was fragging out while taking darks...So they are 33 seconds long compared to my 30 second exposures.

These are the master calibration frames

Master Dark

MasterDark_ISO800_33s.tif

Master Flat

MasterFlat_ISO800.tif

Master Bias

MasterOffset_ISO800.tif

50 minutes ago, bottletopburly said:

Nice image quite a bit of walking noise , are you able to dither with your setup ? 

Thanks! i was quite pleased with the results considering itis 30 second subs!

Unfortunately not, at least not properly. I am using an unguided system and limited to short exposures, so I cant dither between frames efficiently. Though i may try some periodic dithering soon, every 20 - 30 mins or something. See if that makes a difference. 

Afternoon guys,

just looking for opinions on what may be the cause of a couple of issues in my M33 Triangulum Galaxy image.

The image consists of around 2 hours of 30 second subs, ~30 Flat frames, ~20 Bias frames (Tried 20 darks to see if these were the issues, but it did not seem to make any difference) and was taken with a WO Z73 + a astro modified Canon 600D all on a SGP

There is a grey haze in the bottom left corner, and two distinct bands just about visible too, which become very prominent unless careful in processing.

Any ideas what the issue could be? I am going to remove the flat frames next and run just bias, see if they are perhaps impacting negatively.

It was a moonless night, only thing that grey haze could potentially be is a bit of light pollution. I was under a dark sky (Bortle 3-4) but there was a building with visible pollution on the other side of the hill, perhaps it was captured -.- Can not figure out how to remove the issues, but this is where I got to. Its a shame as I thought the image was shaping up nicely (by my standards anyway!)  

(I did not do any noise reduction yet, just basic stretching)

Stacked tif

Autosave.tif

29 minutes ago, alacant said:

600d, so no. Randomly up to about 15 pixels after every frame. Most astro capture apps will do it for you.

600d, so better without.

Flat frames aren't really optional.

HTH

Thank you.

Quickly read up on dithering, seems like it will be something I delve into properly when I have a guiding system in place and use software with my setup.

At the moment I have no guiding and don't use any software, Just a DSLR and a intervolemeter. A very simple setup.

Apparently, I read the fact that I have no guiding basically means I am dithering to some degree due to general drift, That each frame will have shifted slightly from the last ..a point to the 'pros' section of not having guiding, automatic, uncontrollable dithering lol

I do not much like the thought of manually scooting over the FOV of the imaging rig 120+ times a night with my 60 second exposures! Yikes!

Doubt I will continue adding to the data I have already due to that star trail, I assume that if  trailing is impacting the star detail, its also detracting from the galaxy detail/quality. Think I will start a new Andromeda project, 30 second subs to try Stamp out trailing completely, try achieve ~4 hours of total integration over two nights, full calibration frames. Hopefully produce a sharper/cleaner image. Will update here as I go!

1 hour ago, alacant said:

Hi

Yeah, it looks great. A big improvement. The data is good. 

A few bits and pieces, but I'm guessing as we don't know what camera or frames you took.

• There is horizontal banding (dslr?). Dither between frames.
• There is vignetting. Use flat frames.
• You lost a bit of the galaxy. Maybe ease off on the processing?
• To my eye, the background looks blue.
• G
• ather more and more frames.

Anyway, to get an idea of what's actually there, this is a 5 minute thrash in StarTools.

Cheers and HTH.

 

Thank you alacant!

The image was taken with WO Z73, astro modified canon 600D (or T3i I think it's called) sat on a sky guider pro, unguided.

It is about 1 hr 45 of 60 second subs, though I don't think the image quality reflects the integration time due to trailing/lack of calibration frames/possible dew on lens.

I believe I took dark frames, may have used bias frames and definitely did not use flats. I am in the habit now of taking full calibration frames

I usually end up with a similar looking image as you did, but I thought I'd give it a stronger stretch and a bit more saturation. But perhaps I over did it a bit

All my editing was exclusively with levels/curves/saturation/colour balance in PS, need to work on using masks etc a bit more. 

with dithering, is it just a case of moving the camera a touch every so often? Will that not cause issues when stacking? I'd be worried about risking PA issues...but perhaps if I did it every 20 minutes or so, and checked PA each time, might actually ensure a better PA result in the end. Food for thought!

cheers guys

1 hour ago, Gonariu said:

I state that I do not know astrophotography, I like your photographs of M31 very much! Apparently where you live the white nights are over!

Thank you Gonariu!

I'm lucky to be able to reach decent dark sky sites, that image was taken in the Brecon Beacons (Wales, UK) which is a bortle 3-4 apparently. Just aswell, as I do not have any light pollution filters ..Although I think the moon was at about 70% and quite bright during that imaging session. I have yet to experience AP without the moon (Sadr region I got about half the imaging done before the moon rose though) 

hoping I can get out this evening and try again without any moon light, be nice to see the difference.

5 hours ago, ONIKKINEN said:

Thats a real nice result for a 4th try. I also processed the stack, just for practice as im still quite new and certainly not an expert in processing. I don't do any kind of star reduction so im not sure i improved on yours. What i will say is that the image has an overpowering blue tint to it, so colour balance seems a bit off. I used SIRIL (free) to do the initial processing, including background extraction, color calibration, and histogram transformation. Exported to photoshop for some final saturation and denoise touches. Also resized the image to hide problems in both my processing and maybe the data itself. I try to go for a very natural look with my shots, which is why i like the stars to remain bright, as they are several times brighter than the galaxy is supposed to be.

I noticed that you have some walking noise that is also in the direction of your star trailing, its difficult to notice but its there and its not simple to remove in processing. You can get rid of this by dithering! Especially important if using a DSLR since there will be a lot of all kinds of noise. You can dither even without any guiding setups, just manually move the camera a few pixels every now and then. The more you bother doing this the better it works but every bit helps.

Thank you for taking a look mate

ahh I see the blue now having seen yours! I think it's because my dslr is astro modded, so I was fighting back an overwhelming red initially ..I will revisit the colour balance.

I took this picture before I made taking flats routine too, looking forward to another shot at it with full calibration frames. But I will certainly look into dithering, thank you for the suggestion.

I am really hoping the star trail is a result of my alignment being a bit out, rather than it being the result of asking too much from the rig (430mm focal sat on an unguided sky guider pro lol) 

I THINK my sadr region image is pretty star trail free by comparison  (thats over 2 hours at 60 second subs) or do you think it shows the same issues? If so, I might drop to 30 seconds and do some tests.

seen some brilliant M31 results online with even shorter exposure times than that!

Evening folks,

Just looking for some opinions on some work I have been doing with Andromeda data. (Its about 1 hr 45 of 60 second subs, unguided)

I have had a few attempts at processing, and to be honest I am amazed at the difference between results!

Here was the initial attempt at a basic 'process':

And here is my latest attempt:

Quite pleased with the amount of detail I have been able to pull out of the galaxy, but I think the stars have taken a little bit of a beating! 

Does it look ok in general though? no glaringly obvious mistakes? I used PS, and at the end used starnett to focus a last stretch/sat of the galaxy.

Going to try get better data on the next clear night, really work on focus...may even drop exposure down from 60 seconds to 30 seconds as I think there is star trail creeping in, hopefully sharpen everything up. It was my 3rd or 4th attempt at a DSO afterall  

Original stacked tif:

Andromeda Stack tif.tif

5 hours ago, Astro Noodles said:

Hi lem, I am using a Skyguider pro and a WO ZS61. The best I can get out of it reliably without guiding is 90 seconds.

 

Thanks for the reply.

Yeah, I would guess with the Z73 ~60 seconds is about right then as its 430mm and a bit more unforgiving. 

I'm just looking for advice regarding a few issues with the SGP surrounding it's capabilites in relation to my equipment, and advice on future upgrades.

I am new to AP, only been imaging for a few weeks and I currently use a WO Z73 (which is 430mm focal length, f/5.9 I believe) + a field flattener and astro modded Canon 600D, currently unguided. I believe my collective weight comes to about 3.8KG - 4KG/5KG payload capacity as recommended.

The first query I'd love some advice on is what kind of exposure times do you think this set up should be capable of before star trails become apparent? Anybody else had experience?

I have read a lot of conflicting information from various sources online. I personally started with 3 minute exposures, while I thought they were OK initially...closer inspection revealed some pretty prominent star trail, not sure if that is related to newbie PA or simply not possible without guiding. I believe my 60 second exposures are considerably better by comparison at the moment and that has become my default as of now.

I have seen people saying that the SGP is outright not capable of holding a scope like the Z73, or that you will be restricted to 30-60 subs at most. Similarly, some have stated that they have managed 2-3 minute subs un guided and 4+ with guiding . It is hard to know what I should be striving for xD 

My second query is planing out the future of my gear, I am in a position as a student that I do not have a lot of money spare and I do not currently own a car, hence my chosing my current set up. relatively cheap, able to carry up hills etc as I can not do 'backyard astrophotography'. So I am quite keen to avoid using laptops, and possibly large power banks for additional equipment.

I am torn between focusing on upgrading the mount to a traditional GOTO sometime in the new year after I get a good few months under my belt at my current basic level, but then being quite restricted in travelling with it, v's the other route of purchasing a lightweight autoguiding system run with an asiairpro.

Which do you guys think makes more sense as a next step?

Would the auto guiding with an asiairpro require me to upgrade my current mini power bank (It's basically a portable phone charger that is currently powering my dew heater) to a larger power bank?

I realise these are quite 'messy' questions with lots of variables, but I would love some input/direction from experienced members to help me plan ahead and set goals 

Cheers guys 

11 minutes ago, INeedSomeHelp said:

I have 50 dark frames, 50 flat frames and 75 bias frames. This should be sufficient right? Also, there is no grain before I perform a background correction, it really is the background correction which causes it.  I also took about 650 lights at 2.5 seconds each. This should mean (if I did the math correctly) that I have a total integration time of 27 minutes. I don't know if increasing the amount of light frames will improve the image much right?

That should be more than enough calibration frames for sure, I have read 20-30 of each is more than sufficient.

I have also noticed that on occasion the background extraction alone does more harm than good, I have just thought "If it is not broke, don't try and fix it"

27 minutes is a relatively short imaging time, longer imaging time should for sure help just about everything I believe (less noise and more detail)

Here's some links to help you out, specific to the Andromeda galaxy on an untracked system. The second video covers processing, a guide I followed when processing my own, it involves removing the stars using Starnet which isolates the galaxy, preserving the background and stars during processing.

Part 1 (Deatails on capturing the data)

Part 2 (Details on processing the data)

This guy does a lot of work involving untracked images, might be worth taking a look at some of his other videos for hints and tips as he covers his own workflow in pretty easy to follow, step by step guide.

Best wishes

As a fellow beginner, I found SiriL auto stretch a very good way point to see what the basic data is capable of, and sometimes use it as a starting point to then be picked up and finished in PS etc.

I found the methods in the above video great for doing a full 'manual' stretch in PS as I struggled too 

Hope this helps, take care 

in this same imaging session, after capturing the Sadr data, the dslr was very close to hitting the tripod after rotating for the 2+ hours and the clouds were rolling in so I decided to finish up and grab as few shots of the whirpool galaxy.

This is x5 60 second subs  

Given how small it is in the frame, do you think it is a worth while target? or is it a bit too small? (Image is slightly cropped already)

8 minutes ago, bottletopburly said:

Auto Dev in startools which is basically a stretch function  ,so basic start is autodev ,to see what you have , bin data i usualy bin50%, Crop module crop the artefacts from stacking out  around edge ,Wipe module to rid gradients and vignetting , now redo AutoDev for final stretch , now work left to right through modules you require , starting with contrast , finishing with noise reduction,any problem let us know  . 

NB , check out startools website for more info ,https://www.startools.org/links--tutorials/starting-with-a-good-dataset/general-pre-processing-dos-and-donts have a good read of do and dont page .

Thank you very much burly! The guidance is invaluable.

Now to recover from being on the side of a mountain until 5 am this morning capturing that Sadr data!

night folks!