First Deep Sky Autoguided Image on LX90

[Guest]

Hi All,

I am new to all this and to this forum and would really like some genuine feedback on this image of the Dumbell Neb

I have finally got the LX90 autoguiding perfectly as you can see from the round

stars.

Balancing the mount perfectly has made all the difference.

And all done with just the serial cable from handset to computer using Ascom and

meade driver with pulse guide commands, no 909 port or clone.

Pic taken through Canon unmodified 1000D DSLR through my LX90 at f6.3 and guided

with a meade DSI on a piggybacked 80mm skywatcher short tube, pic is 7 X 3min

subs, 7 X 3 min darks subtracted and combined in MaxDSLR software, no

proccessing but binned 2x2 and cropped.

Guided using PHD software.

I actually took many subs including one 17 min sub and stars were still

perfectly round, just to see how far i could go. All the subs i took were

useable with no PE or guiding errors at all, solved that by turning off backlash

compensation on handset and letting PHD do all the work.

Please let me know what you think.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1071867/Dumbell%20Proccesed%20in%20MaxDSLR%202x2%20binne\

d%20cropped.tif

Regards

Stewart

[Johnboy2011]

That looks fantastic to me, the work has really paid off!

John

[Guest]

Thanks John, I see you have same scope and DSLR as me.

[Johnboy2011]

I've never managed anything like that though! I did try a couple in alt/az but obviously that was very handicapped. I'm learning with the EQ6 now though and got up to 10 min subs before the weather closed in again this week.

My next challenge is processing, after stacking in DSS I haven't got a clue!!

[Guest]

I could'nt get on with DSS, i know everyone swears by it, but did'nt work on my RAW images very well so got hold of MaxDSLR and photoshop elements with tutorials and ...well you have seen the first result.

[Earl]

I have had a play with your image I hope you don't mind, I did manage to get the background a bit blobby though

[Guest]

What did you do to alter, ie. software and technique, i noticed the green tinge has gone from the image which i thing was caused by my LP filter, also there seems more detail in the Nebulae now.

[Simms]

Cracking shot! Its nice when it all comes together isnt it!

[Coco]

Nice... up close the way this target looks its best

[Earl]

What did you do to alter, ie. software and technique, i noticed the green tinge has gone from the image which i thing was caused by my LP filter, also there seems more detail in the Nebulae now.

I use Pixinsight, and follow Harrys tutorials.

First of all I did a Dynamic Background Extractions to sort out the gradients.

Then I did a Colour Calibration (which i have to admit didnt do what I wanted) user error for sure.

I then put some HDR Wavelets to bring out some detail in the nebulosity.

Next Noise reduction, which made the back ground go a bit blobby, I need to work on this lots as its a key phase of processing imo.

Then I played with the histogram and with curves using a Luminosity mask, and also boosted the saturation of the nebula I did drop the green channel a touch for the stars using a star mask.

[Guest]

hi all,

I have tried stacking and combining the same RAWS in DSS and Maxim, I maxim they come out fine but with a slight green tinge to them ( due to LP filter) which i can edit out, but in DSS they are very pink No green or blue in them i have tried all sorts of settings but no change, i think it is something to do with white balances but am not sure, some say to use custom white balance in camera when using a CLS LP filter others say not, so why the 2 totally different results in 2 software packages.

Please see these for examples:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1071867/Dumbell%20Proccesed%20in%20%20MaxDSLR.tif

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1071867/Dumbell%20from%20Raws%20in%20DSS.TIF

help appreciated

Stewart

[Guest]

Have shrunk th pics now so will upload quicker

[ollypenrice]

I can't open your TIFFs. It would be best to link to a JPEG, eg on FLickr which is free.

Olly (Not AstroOlly!!)