Bluesboystig

Agree, there is definitely more to extract from that data. However, it's the amount of noise extracted with the signal that bothers me, hence my question really.

I just checked the price tag of the 2600MC.. my eyes are bleeding now 😔 Would doing longer exposures improve the situation? In other words, is it super worth investing in an ASIAIR mini and guidescope etc for guiding and extending the subs time? Not sure the GTI can handle more than 2 mins without guiding...

No my camera is just the normal unmodded one. Thanks for the praise, maybe my expectations are a bit too high? I know that that longer the total integration time the better, but I thought that 3.5h would give me a better SNR. It required so much stretching to get anything out of the stacked image that it brought out all the noise as well.

Hi everyone, I have started recently in this incredible hobby and I'm full of questions, like many others I suppose. One thing I have noticed is that my images have an incredible amount of noise and not much data in them. My latest project was the Heart Nebula: on a really good night with no moon, I took 101 subs 2 minutes each at ISO 800 with my Canon eos 2000d and WO z61 with an Optolong L-Pro filter. Very disappointingly there wasn't much in each individual raw file, I can barely see any hint of nebulosity. I was then reading Siril processing tutorial and noticed the picture on top: one single RAW (with the same filter) had way more information in it than my entire stack of 3h and 20 mins! Am I missing something here? I feel like I should be getting more data per sub but I don't really understand what I'm doing wrong. I understand the Heart Nebula is an emission nebula so L-Pro is not great, but I don't think it completely kills data. Any tips on how to approach this? Thank you so much for the help and apologies if this sounds all a bit stupid, I'm just looking to learn

Yes I'm using the L-Pro (edited the mistake in the original info), I'll try shooting without a filter next time, hopefully soon. At the moment I don't have any software assistance while imaging, but already planning to get an asiair mini for guiding, plate solving etc. That should hopefully solve the framing issue. I didn't know about these plugins, worth checking them out for sure! Thanks so much for the response, much appreciated.

So for my third project since getting my imaging setup I decided to give a go at the Heart Nebula. UK skies were very clear and the moon was a beautiful 0%. I managed to capture more than 3h of data, which I thought would be enough to get something decently sharp, but I'm still getting a hell of a lot of noise to get some results during processing. I'm assuming that the learning curve for both imaging and processing is vertical I'm attaching the stacked result if anyone would like to give it a go and see what can be done with it. Maybe ISO 800 is a bit low? I obviously made a big mistake with the framing, but I really couldn't see any detail of the nebulosity in the LCD screen of the camera. Any tips on how to frame faint objects when the camera screen doesn't show anything apart from stars? Otherwise, quite happy with the tracking of the GTI at 2 mins. Any comments/tips/help/suggestions are more than welcome, this is such an amazing hobby and this community is so full of knowledge! Equipment: WO z61 with flattener, SW Star Adventurer GTI, Canon EOS 2000d, Optolong L-Pro filter. Session: 101x120" subs at ISO 800, 20 darks, 20 flats, 20 bias frames. Bortle 5 sky, 0% Moon Siril: stacking, background extraction, green noise removal, asinh transformation, STARNET for star removal, generalised hyperbolic stretch transformation, star recomposition GIMP: some more gentle stretching, contrast FIT file attached for your amusement Thanks so much for the feedback! Script stack result.fit

Thanks @teoria_del_big_bang and @Mandy D, I really appreciate your encouraging comments (and everyone else’s for that matter). I think I’m just keen to get sharp results and get rid of all that noise. I’m currently 2h into shooting the Heart Nebula, clear UK skies are such a rarity. Hopefully I’m getting something useful

Thank you so much!!

Brilliant! And no bias frames either? I’ll give it a go for sure, thanks for the help.. I’m sure dr google will help answer the long list of questions I‘ll have for sure

So to do this, do I need to preprocess without using the scripts? I.e going step by step manually? Or do I use a script without DBF and then calibrate manually on that tab? Apologies if the question is a bit stupid, total beginner here.. Thanks so much

Last night was super clear so I tried my first m31. Faffed around failing alignment and got all flustered, so in the madness I didn't realise the camera was set on JPEG and not RAW!!😱 Anyway, I processed the files to see what came out of them and to get used to the process. This is my first m31 (heavily messed up), but just wanted to share. Equipment: WO z61 with flattener, Canon EOS 2000d, Star Adventurer GTI, Optolong L-Pro. 67x70" subs at ISO 800 (no calibration frames because I wanted to calibrate manually on Siril but realised I have no idea how to do that, if anyone can point me in the right direction that would be great). Processed in Siril: crop, background extraction, noise reduction, green noise reduction, stretching. GIMP: some more gentle stretching. Considering it was from a bunch of JPEGs and not calibrated I'm weirdly happy with it? It's of course very noisy, and a total scrap..

Really?? hahaha I do love a good software solution.. now, anyone knows how to solve cloudy skies?!

That's so interesting, I didn't know about that calculator! thanks for the help! Hopefully it's just some dust on the filter, and not something to worry about...

This is really helpful, thank you very much! I guess I'll have to try and be as precise as possible with framing again?

Another rookie question: can I (I think so but not sure how) get more subs let's say tonight and add them to the stacked file/stack everything together again? If so, how (using Siril)? How do I add flats from different sessions in case? Sorry if it's a bit of a dumb question.

Thanks @alacant. Do you mean I should use ISO800 going forward and not take darks and bias frames? Also, not sure what subtracting the offset means. Any resources you could point me to so I can learn? Thanks so much!

Thanks @Padraic M and @The60mmKid! If anyone knows what those circular artefacts are I’d love to know.. maybe something on the sensor/scope/filter? Or maybe while shooting flats there was something on the white t-shirt I used? Anything else?

Thanks! I used ISO 1600, it seemed like a good option. Definitely happy as a first attempt for sure, I was trying to understand how to use starnet so definitely something to get to grips with!

Here's the stack @AstroMuni if you or anyone else fancies a go at it, I'd very much appreciate it. result.fit

Thanks @AstroMuni! I hope the force is strong in me I should have mentioned (rookie mistake): Stacked in Siril, and I used Siril for background extraction, gradient removal, green noise removal and some stretching as well. I used the deconvolution tool as well, but I think I did something wrong there as I can see funky stuff around stars when zooming in GIMP: some more stretching, contrast, saturation Not sure how much more signal can be extracted from the data I have, I don't want to push the processing too hard to get colours and in the process create a lot of noise.

Thanks @Mark2022! I'm quite happy with the result, even though I think I overdid it with the processing, it looks a bit noisy to me. I might try remove stars to edit the nebulosity and re-apply them with starnet (need to learn how to do all that but hey). Also, I think that just over 1h of integration time is not that much time (plus a 70% moon). Lots to learn for sure!

Hi everyone, super excited, got my first session last night and went for NGC7000. Needless to say, I have a shedload to learn and a lot of pick up for processing, but wanted to share with you and ask for any advice, comments, suggestions etc. Equipment used: Star Adventurer GTI, WO z61 with flat61, Canon eos2000d unmodded, Optolong L-Pro. 86 lights (55s each) for a total of 1h15mins of integration time, 15 darks, 15 flats, 15 bias frames. (I think I have some dust on the sensor, I see there are some circular artefacts in the image). Bortle 6 sky in Berkshire FIT file at the bottom NGC7000.fit

Nice result! The learning curve with Siril + GIMP is steep, but definitely worth climbing! Your result on my file looks really good (I was working from a TIFF and exported the final result as a JPEG), actually impressive compared to what I was getting. Thanks for the pointers, really appreciated. The photo you linked is an absolute masterpiece though, I'm absolutely amazed! I hope one day I'll manage to get something even half that good!

No, stupidly I thought we wouldn't need to do that at 50mm... all part of the learning curve.

I did, but with 4s exposures we were noticing trails, so we reduced to 3s, then 2s then 1s. I hindsight, we where zooming in quite a lot to check for trailing, so that might have been one of the problems.. Do you think it's out of focus as well?