The "No EQ" DSO Challenge!

[Nigel G]

I have just finished taking more on M45 and M42, my scope and mount are covered in frost,

I had to defrost the secondary mirror an hour after starting at 6.30 , an early dew build up froze . Darn cold out there. 

but very clear.

Nige.

 

[Filroden]

It was very cold. Not helped by the fact I have to turn off my heating to stop the steam from my boiler venting across my scope!

I think I had a successful night:

60 subs on unity gain on NGC1333

60 subs at 300 gain on Flaming Star Nebula (it's so dim I didn't dare drop to unity)

60 subs at unity on the HH and Flame though I think it was too low in the sky and I have either haze or a nasty gradient

405 subs at unity on M42 (1s, 5s and 30s exposures for a HDR combination)

By the time I packed up and checked where M42 was in the sky and it was literally about to pass the edge of the row of houses and go out of view by midnight! I really do have a tight imaging window unless I move to the other end of the garden!

[parallaxerr]

Got over 2hrs of good data on M33 last night. Total integration time now 4hrs 15mins.

Definitely more detail coming out but hard to balance detail and background noise.

 

 

Edited November 30, 2016 by parallaxerr

[Filroden]

I think you've done a good job in the balance you've struck. I'd maybe tone down the red hue - maybe mask the stars and then reduce saturation in the red channel 5-10%?

[parallaxerr]

I tried masking the stars in ST, but changes to the colour also affected M33.

Instead, I reduced the red channel luminosity in the shadows with GIMP, which I think has had the desired effect.

Quite pleased with this now. Not sure if adding any more data will help?...

 

 

 

Edited November 30, 2016 by parallaxerr

[Filroden]

I'd be pleased with it too

[Stub Mandrel]

That M33 is very nice, but I'd be tempted to reduce red across the board not just shadows as it is has a lot of bright and blue colour in the arms and taht change might make it sparkle even more.

 

[parallaxerr]

17 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

That M33 is very nice, but I'd be tempted to reduce red across the board not just shadows as it is has a lot of bright and blue colour in the arms and taht change might make it sparkle even more.

 

I know what you mean Neil, I can play with colours all day and never quite know what's right. This little tweak seems to have made it pop a bit, a little more representative of other examples I've seen. Deleted the other images from last two posts as not to clutter up the thread.

 

Edited November 30, 2016 by parallaxerr

[Filroden]

Well, this is a new background colour...

Hopefully I can neutralise it!

[parallaxerr]

Filter of some sort Ken?

[Filroden]

A blond one between the seat and the screen...I somehow managed to put the luminescence into the green channel! 

[Filroden]

Flaming Star Nebula

Added another run on this very faint target. It really is hard to pull this one out of the background (blond filters aside). Because I knew this one would be tough I didn't experiement with unity gain and stuck with the 300 gain setting which reduces read noise to about 1.5.

Doubling the number of subs has not only brought out more detail but it was easier to process and there seemed to be less noise. This still needs three to four times more data I think but it's still quite low in the sky so a few more nights might do it. My main problem now is star cores. I'm really burning them out at the high gain and 45s exposures. I may have to resort to painting them in Photoshop!

Version 2

Version 1 for comparison

[jimbo747]

On 10/10/2016 at 20:40, parallaxerr said:

This site doesn't work properly on my mobile. Every time I reply it tries to include a quote from parallaxer!

 

Anyway Filro, version 2 is spectacular. Short of full on observatories with camera rotators I doubt anyone has made better images on an alt az mount.

 

I need to pull my finger out, remotely opened my observatory to use at night for the first time yesterday, went to get kids to bed. Came downstairs and had no stars on my finder guider or 224mc on laptop. webcam showed clear sky. I know mak was in rough focus and finder never loses focus, just wanted to align then I'll remotely alter focus on mak after. Reinstalled sharp cap, rebooted remote PC, installed drivers, still nowt. Sharp cap showing frames being sent. Went outside to give it a right kicking. I only went and left the friggin solar filters on from last week... proper head in hands moment. Didn't bother setting up so went to bed in a sulk, need to put my DSLR on anyway. Have bought some hosepipe rings as can't find telescope rings for a 127mak, will bodge it this weekend and then join the fun!

[Filroden]

8 hours ago, jimbo747 said:

This site doesn't work properly on my mobile. Every time I reply it tries to include a quote from parallaxer!

I think it remembers your last post. I sometimes have to delete stuff from the text box before I start.

8 hours ago, jimbo747 said:

version 2 is spectacular. Short of full on observatories with camera rotators I doubt anyone has made better images on an alt az mount.

Thank you but I think everyone's pushing up the limits of what is achieveable. The new cameras are making a huge difference, almost demanding short sub lengths where the mount type becomes less important (rotation still limits field of view over the course of a session). The limiting factor of the mount will be how good it can track within that sub-length and so far mine has been good to me (the occasional wi-fi spasm, or stuck drive aside). I think once we really throw off the thoughts of what we can't do, and just do it the more we'll see!

I've been watching Gina's progress with the same camera. She uses an EQ mount but what she can pull out in 2 to 4 minutes is mind blowing. 2 minutes is about our limit. I know Nige has pushed his that far. I've only gone to 1.5m, but it shows what we could achieve.

8 hours ago, jimbo747 said:

I need to pull my finger out, remotely opened my observatory to use at night for the first time yesterday, went to get kids to bed. Came downstairs and had no stars on my finder guider or 224mc on laptop. webcam showed clear sky. I know mak was in rough focus and finder never loses focus, just wanted to align then I'll remotely alter focus on mak after. Reinstalled sharp cap, rebooted remote PC, installed drivers, still nowt. Sharp cap showing frames being sent. Went outside to give it a right kicking. I only went and left the friggin solar filters on from last week... proper head in hands moment. Didn't bother setting up so went to bed in a sulk, need to put my DSLR on anyway. Have bought some hosepipe rings as can't find telescope rings for a 127mak, will bodge it this weekend and then join the fun!

I think it happens to us all. Whether leaving the Bahtinov mask on, or, like me the other night, forgetting to brace the tripod legs for the entire evening and wondering why I was seeing more shake than usual.

[parallaxerr]

8 hours ago, jimbo747 said:

This site doesn't work properly on my mobile. Every time I reply it tries to include a quote from parallaxer!

Yep, I get this all the time too. Quotes from others I mean, not myself!

Ken, that second image really is brilliant. I just got up close with it and the level of detail gives it some real depth.

I hit Triangulum again last night. I realise I need several nights of data now, to get good images, so I thought I'd use the last clear night to wrap up my M33 project. Total integration time is now 6hrs 15mins, if I see a detail increase like I did after the second imaging session, I'll be very happy!

Edited December 1, 2016 by parallaxerr

[The Admiral]

13 hours ago, Filroden said:

Flaming Star Nebula

Added another run on this very faint target. It really is hard to pull this one out of the background (blond filters aside). Because I knew this one would be tough I didn't experiement with unity gain and stuck with the 300 gain setting which reduces read noise to about 1.5.

Doubling the number of subs has not only brought out more detail but it was easier to process and there seemed to be less noise. This still needs three to four times more data I think but it's still quite low in the sky so a few more nights might do it. My main problem now is star cores. I'm really burning them out at the high gain and 45s exposures. I may have to resort to painting them in Photoshop!

That's a fine image Ken, a testament to your patience (well beyond mine ) in your pursuit of excellence. I see a perfectionist at work! I'm pleased that your camera is also working well for you.

I've no doubt that we've all come a fair distance in this game, and beginning to knock on the door of the more 'traditional' imaging techniques, and long may it be so.

Ian

[The Admiral]

9 hours ago, jimbo747 said:

I need to pull my finger out, remotely opened my observatory to use at night for the first time yesterday, went to get kids to bed. Came downstairs and had no stars on my finder guider or 224mc on laptop. webcam showed clear sky. I know mak was in rough focus and finder never loses focus, just wanted to align then I'll remotely alter focus on mak after. Reinstalled sharp cap, rebooted remote PC, installed drivers, still nowt. Sharp cap showing frames being sent. Went outside to give it a right kicking. I only went and left the friggin solar filters on from last week... proper head in hands moment. Didn't bother setting up so went to bed in a sulk, need to put my DSLR on anyway. Have bought some hosepipe rings as can't find telescope rings for a 127mak, will bodge it this weekend and then join the fun!

Well, that's less likely to happen when you've got to drag everything outside each time you want to image! Just envy, really

Ian

[Filroden]

5 minutes ago, The Admiral said:

a testament to your patience

Hardly  45 minutes of imaging on two nights! That said, it's probably 2-3 times that in processing. 

Now I have to learn to either keep my stars from overexposing or stretch them more sensitively so you don't get the sharp jump from core to halo, and avoid the blue in the cores of the brightest stars. 

Each image teaches me some new trick. If only I could remember them on the next run through!

[The Admiral]

Another one from the night before last. This is looking towards an unfavourable direction for me, where light pollution from a local town is a problem, though with a clear night it wasn't too bad and the Veil was high in the sky initially.

This was a result of a quick processing session, and with a bit of post-post-processing work done in Lightroom.

As always, though, I'm never satisfied and want to improve my result, but as more often than not I end up with something worse. I've tried to bring the nebula more to the fore, but I think it now looks a bit false and less diaphanous (nice word, that!).

I think I prefer the first one.

I took 180 frames at ISO1600, and manually weeded out the ones with apparent movement, so in the end I stacked 137 x 30s frames in AA. I took darks that night, but couldn't unscrew the lens cover (it had frozen on!), so had to do the flats the next morning. Gear as usual: Fuji X-T1 through an Altair 102mm f/7 Super ED with a TS Photoline 2" 0.79x reducer/flattener. Mounted on a Nexstar 6/8SE Alt-Az mount. RAWs stacked in Astroart, processed in StarTools, and finished in Lightroom.

Ian

Edited December 1, 2016 by The Admiral

[parallaxerr]

Well here it is, my final image of M33 for now. 6hrs 15mins of exposure taken over 3 nights, 28-30/11/2016 from Caerleon, S. Wales. All three sessions were between approximately 18:30-21:30 and 60°-70° alt, so medium light pollution.

Usual setup - William Optics Zenithstar 66SD, Celestron Nexstar SE, Nikon D3200.

750x30s subs, 50 flat & 50 dark flat, no darks. Stacked in DSS and processed in Start Tools with final colour tweaks made in Gimp.

I see a different  colours between 3 monitors and 2 mobile devices, so who knows which one is right!? I'm glad I added the final session as it's helped distinguish star colours in the spiral arms, after 4hrs they all still looked blue but now I see reds too and the core has a slightly warmer colour. All in all, very happy with the result from a very modest imaging setup!

 

 

 

Edited December 1, 2016 by parallaxerr

[parallaxerr]

9 minutes ago, The Admiral said:

I think I prefer the first one.

I think I agree Ian. I am definitely a black background junkie! What an amazing swathe of stars!

I'd like to have a pop at the veil but not sure my camera has the required red response.

Edited December 1, 2016 by parallaxerr

[happy-kat]

M33 is gorgeous. 

[happy-kat]

I like bits of both viels, can't choose. :-) is very delicate the viel 

[Filroden]

I think I like the first version too. It feels more delicate. i love the intertwining colours in the Veil. 

[Filroden]

2 hours ago, parallaxerr said:

my final image of M33

You can definitely see the improvement that more subs brings. The colours look spot on now.  Love it!