I feel like I'm starting out again

[ashworthacca]

Hi guys, i'm back in the world of astrophotography after many months of clouds....my kit is all set up and waiting for the dark sky but I have a couple of simple questions that I should know the answer to. Darks...do these have to be taken at the same focus as the light frames? If not I could be now shooting some darks so don't waste time later.

Also, this is going to be my first attempt at Ha with my DSLR. When I have my lights, darks and flats how do I process. I use Nebulosity or DSS to Stack and could either use Pixinsight or Photoshop to process but can you guys give me some simple pointers.

I feel like I've forgot everything that I have learned and just starting out again.

Thanks guys

[Merlin66]

The darks have to be similar exposures at similar temperatures...that's all.

[lukebl]

The darks are, well, dark, so focus is not relevant!

[ashworthacca]

Thanks guys....it did seem obvious to me but I sort of doubted myself.

[ashworthacca]

Just got in after a pretty good night and have stacked the subs in DSS. If anyone fancies a go at processing the DSS autosave let me know and I'll send you the dropbox link.

I have never processed ha images before so any pointers appreciated.

Regards

[ashworthacca]

Can anyone tell me if I'm on the right tracks for processing the DSLR ha image.

Stack as normal, I've now used Nebulosity V2.

Open the autosave in Pixinsight and extract channels.

keep the red and discard the blue and green. The red channel is now greyscale.

Process as you would any other astro image?

Does that sound right or am I way off the mark?

Thanks all:)

[ashworthacca]

Just had a quick play at processing using the above method and ended up with this.

Gamma Cygni (Sadr) by ashworthacca, on Flickr

Am I on the right track? it looks ok to me but I'm sure i can get some more detail in the nebula.

EDIT: Damn those oblong stars in the top right hand corner....this is a stacking problem with Nebulosity (I've had it before) that I didn't notice.....it hasn't happened on my DSS stack:mad:

[ashworthacca]

Here a re-stacked version with (hopefully) better stars.

Gamma Cygni (Sadr) Region by ashworthacca, on Flickr

Does anyone want a go at showing me how to process it?