Thoughts on which imaging rigs to concentrate on

[ChrisLX200]

That 1600 is really beginning to sing for you now Gina   Sounds like tough work dealing with all that data though!

ChrisH

[Gina]

Another go at IC 443 - no saturated white now

[Gina]

Yes, the data processing is quite tedious but the results are rewarding.  Going through hundreds of images weeding out the poor and duff ones in Blink takes quite some time and effort - processing with BPP takes time but doesn't need much attention while it runs.  The 1600 allows data capture in short time but generates a lot of data.

[Gina]

H&S in BPP - 3 frames failed the star registration leaving 258 good ones for integration.  I've already proofed the OIII and SII frames in Blink though only a few SII and pretty weak data.  I also have the NAN data in Ha and OIII to process (SII was useless) - so plenty of data processing work to catch up on.  But I do have other things to do.

[Gina]

I'm bound to get some useful SII at some point as I have before with the 460EX and then I'll probably want the use the Hubble Palette.  OK so I can do it in Photoshop but I would like to avoid that where appropriate.  My experience of PixInsight so far is that it's extremely powerful and should give very good results but the learning curve is even steeper than Photoshop and that was bad enough!  I do like PI though - it seems to fit my personality (and I did maths up to degree standard at university).  I like that PI shows its workings whereas Ps just sits there with a "processing" icon.

Googling brought up an oldish thread here in SGL plus several links to the PI forum - I'm investigating...

 

Edited November 29, 2016 by Gina

[Gina]

BPP in PixInsgiht is still processing OIII images of the Heart & Soul - all 357 of them!  Meanwhile, I'm imaging IC 1396 in OIII with 120s subs.  These are just showing a faint image and I think if I get enough they will be alright.

[Gina]

PI has just finished and here is a screenshot of the result of the usual BPP of OIII of the Heart & Soul Nebula.

[Gina]

Now processing 80 SII H&S subs in BPP.  There are faint but noticeable images in these subs.

Two dozen 120s OIII subs of IC 1396 captured so far and continuing...

Edited November 29, 2016 by Gina

[Gina]

Here is a single OIII IC1396 sub greatly histogram stretched.

[Gina]

And here's a screenshot of the integrated SII result for the H&S stretched a bit in GIMP.

[Gina]

IC443 18 OIII subs processed in BPP and histogram stretched in Gimp - there is something there - just!  Can just make out a bit of the head of the Jelly Fish.

[Gina]

I shall go on collecting OIII subs and maybe it will add up to a useful amount of image data.  Tomorrow night is foirecast to clear and I'm planning to swap lenses for a shorter focal length one, maybe 28mm and move over to Orion and capture Barnard's Loop etc.

[Gina]

Downloaded the hundred odd OIII subs of IC1396 and checked them in Blink - 115 brewed down to 107.   Now in BPP.

[Gina]

Lots of imaging data to analyse from last night, including some alternatives from the main runs on IC1396 and IC443.  A quick look at Orion and a search for Simeis 147 which I'm keen to have a go at.

Here's a first look...  Just 10 120s Ha subs for identification.  Could be Simeis 147 in the top left corner - must check my FOV scale.  135mm f2.5 lens - 433m x 335m = 7.2° x 5.6° - Simeis 147 is said to be 3° diameter approx. so that's not it - image is far too small.  I'm changing lens to 28mm f3.5 for tonight with the main plan of capturing Barnard's Loop etc. in Orion but until that comes into view I can explore other areas.

[Filroden]

13 minutes ago, Gina said:

Lots of imaging data to analyse from last night, including some alternatives from the main runs on IC1396 and IC443.  A quick look at Orion and a search for Simeis 147 which I'm keen to have a go at.

Here's a first look...  Just 10 120s Ha subs for identification.  Could be Simeis 147 in the top left corner - must check my FOV scale.  135mm f2.5 lens - 433m x 335m = 7.2° x 5.6° - Simeis 147 is said to be 3° diameter approx. so that's not it - image is far too small.  I'm changing lens to 28mm f3.5 for tonight with the main plan of capturing Barnard's Loop etc. in Orion but until that comes into view I can explore other areas.

 

Just checked SkySafari and you'd have found Simeis 147 well below your lower left border. It sits to the left of Elnath as you're oriented. With that image scale you could probably line Elnath up with your right border and capture it.

[Filroden]

Here's the solved and annotated plate using PixInsight:

[Gina]

Thanks Ken   I should have guessed that PixInsight could have given me the answer   I sure do have a lot to learn   But I enjoy learning so that's alright

[Filroden]

Took me a while to find the two scripts but they are very easy to use and give a better (in my opinion) annotation than astromety.net (though I do check my pixel scale with astrometry.net). I haven't worked out if you can apply anti-collision to the labels yet so it can be a little crowded sometimes. Particulaly if you have clusters inside nebula, etc.

[Gina]

I thought I recognised the main DSO in the image   The FOV seems to be rather nice for this DSO   This is one I haven't imaged before - one of dozens no doubt

Edited November 30, 2016 by Gina

[Filroden]

You have no idea how much I hated seeing the image at that exact moment  I was just integrating 60 L subs of the Flaming Star and mine only shows a fraction of the detail! It's a beautiful field of view and one that will deserve the colour treatment I think.

[Gina]

Thanks again Ken and gives me pause for thought

Took 31 Ha subs of Orion from the Flame Nebula to M42 last night.  BPP failed to register a couple leaving 29 which it seemed fine but when I came to look at the result there was nothing there except a cluster of dots where M42 should be , seems the M42 data got rejected but I don't know where the rest went.

[Gina]

Tried extreme histogram stretch in Photoshop but there is indeed absolutely nothing there!

Been thinking about things and I think Barnard's Loop can wait a bit - Orion is too low in the SE until late at night ATM and there seems to be "good pickings" at the present FOV.  I've already taken the imaging rig off the mount to change lenses but I can easily put it back without changing lenses.  I think that's what I'll do.  The 135mm lens is a really good one and does seem to give better results than the 28mm.

[Gina]

38 minutes ago, Filroden said:

You have no idea how much I hated seeing the image at that exact moment  I was just integrating 60 L subs of the Flaming Star and mine only shows a fraction of the detail! It's a beautiful field of view and one that will deserve the colour treatment I think.

I think the difference is that you're using a wideband filter - very wide - and I'm using a very narrowband filter - Ha 3nm Astrodon.  Now that is quite some filter - best in the business I gather, and not cheap - almost half the price of the camera but "boy it gives results".  I've spent more on the filters than the ASI1600MM-Cool. 

Yes, I'm going for imaging the Flaming Star Nebula tonight - it looks a very interesting object and well worth a good go at.  I may have time to try Simeis 147 too - I'll see how it goes. 

[Gina]

I have imaged Simeis 147 before but the FOV was a bit lacking.  And so was the camera resolution (460EX mono).  I think my new rig could improve on previous results

[Filroden]

35 minutes ago, Gina said:

I think the difference is that you're using a wideband filter - very wide - and I'm using a very narrowband filter - Ha 3nm Astrodon.  Now that is quite some filter - best in the business I gather, and not cheap - almost half the price of the camera but "boy it gives results".  I've spent more on the filters than the ASI1600MM-Cool. 

Yes, I'm going for imaging the Flaming Star Nebula tonight - it looks a very interesting object and well worth a good go at.  I may have time to try Simeis 147 too - I'll see how it goes. 

Indeed. I think my sky is drowning out the faint Ha so I either need to get many hours or think about investing in some narrowband filters.