M51 improvement on my first efforts

[Quatermass]

I have it set to 8x but it pays to do some tests first see which works. Takes me ages to set up my guiding so tend to use it for nebula more then galaxys.

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[Gina]

That's lovely Mark I believe I can see another galaxy or two in the frame

[Quatermass]

Thank you Gina, its typical isn't it all those JPG shots the other night were the best ones and last nights efforts with new RAW files instead came out very poor compared to the sharp image in the JPG versions. Just goes to show how important a clear dark sky is, that and getting the focus spot especially for targets like this with fine details.

But if think back to were I was 2 years ago being able to produce this image would have been unthinkable then. Can't believe how much doing all this has taught me and it just keeps getting more interesting which I had taken this up years ago.

My new evostar ed80 focal reducer will be arriving soon so apologize in advance for any sudden gathering of clouds

[Gina]

Just tried processing M51 only to find I'd processed M42 for several hours instead! Just saved the picture then converted the TIFF to JPEG to process in GIMP and post here. I copied it to my USB drive from my netbook and XP shows the file. But when I connect the USB external drive to my main desktop the file doesn't appear Darn computer black magic strikes again!!!!

I dunno. Seem to be having trouble getting the simplest things to work! Maybe all these late nights have caught up on me Maybe I should take up knitting again!

[Slim]

Just tried processing M51 only to find I'd processed M42 for several hours instead! Just saved the picture then converted the TIFF to JPEG to process in GIMP and post here. I copied it to my USB drive from my netbook and XP shows the file. But when I connect the USB external drive to my main desktop the file doesn't appear Darn computer black magic strikes again!!!!

I dunno. Seem to be having trouble getting the simplest things to work! Maybe all these late nights have caught up on me Maybe I should take up knitting again!

Why did you convert to JPEG to process in GIMP Gina? As far as I know there is some compression going on when converting o JPEG. I leave all my files as TIFF files to process in GIMP and only convert to JPEG to post pics on the Internet.

[Gina]

I can't get GIMP to work with TIFF files Maybe I've got an old version - I'll check.

[Slim]

I can't get GIMP to work with TIFF files Maybe I've got an old version - I'll check.

I'm running GIMP 2.6.11 and they do work. I've got a feeling that the autosave files are 32 bit which can't be loaded in GIMP but if you save them with a new file name I think they are converted to 16 bit which can be opened in GIMP.

[Quatermass]

Why dont you try photoshop Gina?

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[Gina]

Photoshop costs MONEY!

[Quatermass]

Yes thats right remember having the same problem save them as 16bit in dss fixed it

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[Viv]

That's some huge differences & manjor improvements.

When you say you see it in backyard for focusing - how !! If there a button / menu i'm completely missing or do you just have really dark skys ??

I have to go to a bright star for focus, when back to target & guess on where in the frame it is.

[RikM]

To improve your focus even further, try this little application: Bahtinov Grabber It might work with your Y mask as well but I'm not sure. It really lets you dial it in perfectly. Make sure you enter your scope details on the right and then just draw a box around the preview screen where your star shape / diffraction pattern is. I normally use 6 sec subs for focusing with a 10 sec pause and tweak it in between. I find I can get much better results than doing it via live view.

[Quatermass]

That's some huge differences & manjor improvements.

When you say you see it in backyard for focusing - how !! If there a button / menu i'm completely missing or do you just have really dark skys ??

I have to go to a bright star for focus, when back to target & guess on where in the frame it is.

Once your focused using the focus and frame section of Backyard EOS and your Bahtinov mask you then move to your target and take a shot, if your target is say in the bottom corner of your frame like M51 last night for me, just use your axis buttons to move it into the right place as you take a few more shots watching were it centers on the display. Once its centered you move over to the imaging section and start taking your subs as normal. They will be displayed on the laptop for you and you can zoom in on the center part as your picture are taken. I did this last night and it really helps to see if your images are in focus.

Have a read of this Scarlet..

Star Gazing: Review of Backyard EOS for framing and focusing your images

[Viv]

Thanks for the link.

Just hoped there could be a live view, i'm mising somewhere, so I know exactly where the targeted thing is ........

[Chris]

Thats a lovely crisp m51 QM, lots a detail and I love seeing the background galaxies their, I think I prefer your 1st new version it looks more natural to me although I know its all very subjective:D What total exposure time did you have in the end? I'm glad you getting on well with your laptop:) I will be following suit with the guiding and laptop soon, I've just demolished the rotten shed at the bottom of my garden and I plan to replace it with a shedservatory thats secure and dry first to keep my kit in. I will be starting a thread in the DIY section soon, I only have a picture of a demolished shed so far which equates to about 10 trips to the tip in my Fiat Panda, that will start in the morning:D

[Quatermass]

Thank you Starfox, getting a shed observatory sounds like a great project and will pay off next winter when its cold again. I want the back ground stars in my image to be lighter but having trouble with balancing that out with the galaxy so thats why there to black at the mo. Total exposure was about an hour of one minute subs in the end. Be interesting to see how your shed observatory goes.

[Gina]

To improve your focus even further, try this little application: Bahtinov Grabber It might work with your Y mask as well but I'm not sure. It really lets you dial it in perfectly. Make sure you enter your scope details on the right and then just draw a box around the preview screen where your star shape / diffraction pattern is. I normally use 6 sec subs for focusing with a 10 sec pause and tweak it in between. I find I can get much better results than doing it via live view.

Thanks for the link - I'll check it out ATM I'm finding micro-focussing on a small central pip in a moon crater gives me better focus than the Bahtinov mask.

[RikM]

Thanks for the link - I'll check it out ATM I'm finding micro-focussing on a small central pip in a moon crater gives me better focus than the Bahtinov mask.

A Bahtinov mask (or y mask) works on point sources. It won't help for lunar pics. I find that the moon and planets need different focus than stars. So you can't focus on a star with B or Y mask and then take pics of the moon because the focus will be off. I guess you are doing it the right way for lunar images.

[Gina]

A Bahtinov mask (or y mask) works on point sources. It won't help for lunar pics. I find that the moon and planets need different focus than stars. So you can't focus on a star with B or Y mask and then take pics of the moon because the focus will be off. I guess you are doing it the right way for lunar images.

Ah - thank you - that explains it I thought the moon was far enough away to focus the same as the stars.

[badgers]

That's stunning QM.

How many lights/darks/flats etc was that ?

[Quatermass]

Cheers Badger it was sixty one min subs iso 1600 and 30 darks no flats they didnt help much this time just added more noise.

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[Chris]

Ah that will be it then no flats! I hope you don't mind QM after you said you weren't entirely happy with your background I had a little play with your M51 in Paint shop pro last night but couldn't stretch the histogram without a vignetting like gradient appearing in the middle of the image.

[Quatermass]

Thanks mate I had a serious processing session on it today the gradient problem was down to M51 being straight above me and my next door neighbours conservatory light creeping in on my subs also dew creeping in on my front mirror on my last 15 subs. Small things like that can play havoc when you process. So that meant seperating the galaxy out as a seperate layer after darking out the gradient. In the end it was easier to treat the stars and galaxys as seperate layers and smooth out the back ground to get a cleaner image. Gradients can be a major pain and mr blobby and neighbours garden lights dont help. Give me pitch black and a clear sky any day.

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[Quatermass]

After playing with it all day this is about the best I can do shame I had to process the back ground so much but once you have got light gradients creeping in there a pig to get rid of. I dont really mind that much its got lots of nice details in it now, far more then I got the first time I took a shot of it last year. I like my canon camera but have to say an Atik would be far far better, since I modded it the extra boost in red has also given me more noise to deal with in the red channels, swings and round abouts.

I guess theres a lot of people on here who start off with a webcam then move on to SLR camera and then when the bug bites hard get set up with a cooled ccd camera. Im sure that will be the way I will go in the end, that and being broke all year.

Wow just found my first feeble efforts at this one on my face book channel blimey what a steep learning curve I have been climbing up the last year, I am so loving doing astrophotography why oh why did I not take this up years ago??

[Gina]

WOW!!! That latest one is just gorgeous! Really beautiful, nice and sharp and lovely colours

Should add... that image really sparkles - quite fantastic