My first Pictures

[The_Sarge]

The fruits of my first astrophotography experience.

Edge HD11 with 0.7x reducer. Each was 1500 frames best 500 stacked in Registax.

Taken late January 25th I think

This one is my favourite

I like this one too, but I think it is a little over exposed. I had the autogain on, I think that is where I went wrong.

I have been totally bitten by the bug now and probably ordering the deep sky camera and refractor in the morning!

Paul

[Blazar]

Good start Sarge.

The 11 is up next on my list I think (that or the 14). To be honest you may want to practice a bit with the lunar side f things before expanding out. I have a smallish refractor as well, and it does not get time on the mount at the moment. My Edge 8 is punching well above its weight (well in my opinion).

Might be good to post up what settings etc and process were used.  On using the ASi120mm, then don't touch the gain...leave it at 50. its the exposure you want to adjust (especially with different lunar phases). I find that i need to have an exposure set at well below 10ms for lunar imaging (and that is also with an IR pass filter). A good process is to use the PIPP program first to pre-process the images, then into your stacking program, followed by putting the TIFF file into Registax (wavelets) to really sharpen the image (if you have enough frames stacked). Also if you have not done so, have a look at the virtual moon atlas application. it will give you some info on what you are taking images of (and helps put it in perspective).

It can get very addictive this lunar imaging....keep em coming ;-)

[The_Sarge]

Steve,

Thanks for the advice.

I know I should learn to walk before I run but it seems I have more money than sense and I am seriously itching to get after all that Orion has to offer before I lose sight of it for the rest of the year.

I am intending to piggy back the refractor on the C11 to maximise its use.

The C11 is a beautiful scope so definitely worth the upgrade

[gnomus]

A good start.  I agree with Blazar about taking control of the exposure.  

I don't think that you need to use the reducer with the ZWO.  You'll get 'closer' without it.  

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Very nice first effort. I think you could apply some sharpening to these and get some more detail out. In most capture software there is the option of showing a histogram or the range of values occupied. I tune exposure time to fill about 80-90% of the histogram (or range) so I don't overexpose. I either use prime focus or a 2x TeleXtender with the C8 with the ASI120 I have to get out more detail. F/7 is a bit short for the pixel size of the camera. F/16-F/20 is a good rule of thumb range for optimal resolution. With the bigger C11 you might not want to go quite that far, but F/10 will show more detail than F/7. To get the whole moon, I need a mosaic.

[The_Sarge]

Thanks for the advice and encouragement everyone.

I wanted to get a bigger area for my first imaging run so went with the reducer for the widest field. Next time I plan on using the Barlow/powermate to get up close and personal to hopefully get some really fine detail.

Sarge

[gnomus]

Thanks for the advice and encouragement everyone.

I wanted to get a bigger area for my first imaging run so went with the reducer for the widest field. Next time I plan on using the Barlow/powermate to get up close and personal to hopefully get some really fine detail.

Sarge

I'd probably just stick with the camera and the scope for now.  You may find that focussing becomes quite challenging with a barlow/powermate attached.  Once you can get sharp focus with the "vanilla" arrangement, then I'd step up.  You should be able to get sharper images than the ones posted.  (It could be, of course, that, as Michael suggests, a bit more processing would sharpen these up.)

Good luck.

[Blazar]

Using a barlow can be really tricky, and the atmosphere has to be pretty good to use it (IMO). Also the focus sweet spot is reduced when you throw another piece of glass in the way. I found the stock focuser was not refined enough to make the really small adjustments needed to focus really well. I would perhaps put funds towards that aspect before another scope. I want to have a go on a friends 11 to see what it is capable of. The 8 does really well.

Also you need to watch the quality of the avi. so in you stacking program there should be some analysis you can do, and only pick frames a the highest quality (in my book it seems to work well from around 70%)

Hope you dont mind but I had a play with the second image in Registax (to use the wavelet sharpening). I could not push it too far though. You can see the upper highlights are blow, but gives you an idea on what you can achieve with the tools. Focus is slightly off, but its a nice image of a couple of iconic craters (Atlas, Hercules)

, you also have a nice view of Posidonius in the lower left corner

Data is king at the end of the day. the more of it you have and of a higher quality then the greater your post processing options. look forward to seeing your next images.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I agree that on the moon, Registax sharpening needs a very gentle approach. I only tweak the lowest bands a little bit. I prefer using Lucy-Richardson deconvolution (ImPP or Astra Image 4.0).

[gnomus]

I agree that on the moon, Registax sharpening needs a very gentle approach. I only tweak the lowest bands a little bit. I prefer using Lucy-Richardson deconvolution (ImPP or Astra Image 4.0).

I've been using Lucy-Richardson in Astra 3 (which is free). I'm reasonably happy with the result. There's so much to adjust in Wavelets that I am not really sure what I am doing.

[The_Sarge]

Steve,

 

I have perhaps neglected to add that I have a Feather Touch focuser c/w stepper motor for the fine focusing