The EQ3 DSO Challenge

[Nigel G]

21 hours ago, Peco4321 said:

My latest attempt at M42, 58 x 45 sec ISO 800, darks and bias, flats made it worse!!  150p eq3-2 canon 1100d dual motors. 

Thats a very crisp and clean M42, good core too.

Well done.

Nige.

[Nigel G]

My first success with the new Ha filter. I love the stars, the filter really keeps them under control.

Rosette 1h 40m of 6 - 8 & 10m subs, ISO 800. dithered with added flats and bias.

Modified Canon 1200D with 12nm Ha filter, 80ED & EQ3.

This was very easy to process, the easiest image yet.

Still a little banding but 200% better than at 1600 ISO.

PHD2, DSS & StarTools.

Another hour or so should clean it right up.

Cheers

Nige.

[Filroden]

51 minutes ago, Nigel G said:

My first success with the new Ha filter. I love the stars, the filter really keeps them under control.

Lovely target to start on. Ha is wonderful. Tight stars, minimal gradient and you can see results for each sub because it’s so easy to stretch. 

The processing fun starts when you combine it with RGB. 

[Peco4321]

I love contributing to this thread though I do feel like I will never achieve the standards of most others. That doesn't really bother me, I just hope you keep offering the encouragement and advice and my efforts don't offend. 

So here are last nights. Beautiful clear moonless sky in East Yorkshire, neighbours lights were off after midnight and I had nothing to get up for. 

Eskimo Nebula, owl Nebula and M108, Flame Nebula and a hint of Horsehead.  All with unmodded canon 1100d mostly 45 sec exposures no flats and no darks as I forgot!  

 

[jjosefsen]

Keep it up Peco4321 it's looking good.II especially liked the picture with the Owl and the fuzzy too.

I'm still struggling with gear and getting good stars.

 

Keep em coming!

[Peco4321]

22 minutes ago, jjosefsen said:

Owl and the fuzzy too

Thanks. I got a comet near this last year. Not the best processing but it was a great opportunity. 

[Filroden]

3 hours ago, Peco4321 said:

I do feel like I will never achieve the standards of most others

You will be surprised at what you can achieve. You’ve got some good data hiding behind the vignette and background gradients. I can’t recommend taking flats enough. They will make the single biggest impact on the images you’ve posted today. After that, a good gradient remover will also make a difference.

[jjosefsen]

44 minutes ago, Peco4321 said:

Thanks. I got a comet near this last year. Not the best processing but it was a great opportunity. 

Wow that's neat. What program do you use for processing?

[Peco4321]

23 minutes ago, jjosefsen said:

Wow that's neat. What program do you use for processing?

I stack in DSS and just use free GIMP to try and bring out the best. 

Edited November 19, 2017 by Peco4321

[Peco4321]

Cheers @Filroden, I keep trying to get decent flats, I will persevere...

[jjosefsen]

4 minutes ago, Peco4321 said:

I stack in DSS and just use free GIMP to try and bring out the best. 

I know it is expensive, but Pixinsight really is exceptionally good, both at stacking and processing.

[Filroden]

10 minutes ago, Peco4321 said:

Cheers @Filroden, I keep trying to get decent flats, I will persevere...

Mine are just a few sheets of white paper placed over the end of scope and pointed towards clear blue sky. Nothing simpler!

[mikey2000]

Keep going Peco!   I know it's a great feeling seeing the final pic emerging from the individual photos...  I can't remember your set up off the top of my head but if you have a live frame-by-frame download to your main computer, running DSS Live is a most entertaining way to watch the data build up...

[Nigel G]

Another couple of tests before I get serious tonight. both less than an hour of subs between 6m & 10m dithered, flats and bias.

I'm finding focusing difficult with the Ha filter in.

Question... Will the focus point be the same with and without a filter with DSLR clip in filters or could I focus with my CLS CCD filter and swap for the Ha ?

Nige.

[bobro]

Hi Nige,

Just made my first Ha image : https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/304350-first-ha-image-california-nebula-as-hargb/

I understand what you mean about focusing. The easiest way for me to achieve this was to put the Bahtinov mask in place and take 20 sec subs, tweaking the focus between subs until it was ok. Not fast but works.

Bob

[Stub Mandrel]

Clouded out here. looking better later in the week.

[Nigel G]

Clear here, started imaging just now, hope you get the clear sky's Neil.

[Peco4321]

Clear skies last night and was getting 60 sec on M42, little bit windy but that seemed to keep the really cold temps at bay. Really want to try and nail this object so will report back tonight. 

[Peco4321]

86x60 sec, 10 darks and 20 bias, I tried processing with flats but seemed to be worse. I think it's an improvement from last time.

[Stub Mandrel]

That's nice, but you do seem to have a bit of coma in the corners, is it an idea to crop it a bit as this dopesn't affect the 'main event'.

[jjosefsen]

On 26/11/2017 at 22:34, Peco4321 said:

86x60 sec, 10 darks and 20 bias, I tried processing with flats but seemed to be worse. I think it's an improvement from last time.

 

Good image and nice framing.

Did you do anything in processeing to preserve the core of M42? It does not look so blown out as a lot of other images I have seen.

Do you think you could tease a little more out of the running man with more subs @60 seconds or would longer subs be needed?

[Peco4321]

Thanks @jjosefsen  I didn't do anything in particular to keep the core. Maybe 800 ISO helped. I used GIMP to tease out the image as I don't have Photoshop. 

I may go for the running man separately at a higher ISO to get more detail then merge the 2 images. 

[Nigel G]

IC 63 bi colour NOT RED  

Opened in StarTools LRGB.... Ha as red & RGB as blue, a nice change from red. 

Cheers

Nige.

[happy-kat]

Interesting image, is Ha not as yellow?

[Nigel G]

Just now, happy-kat said:

Interesting image, is Ha not as yellow?

Opened Ha as red and the normal RGB as blue.