My first Ha attempt IC405

[Jonk]

Since buying my first CCD recently, along with a new Star 71 II, I've been ramping up my efforts to actually capture some decent data and really get to grips with processing.

Moving from DSLR plug onto a scope and click away hasn't been easy, especially as I've spent a few years with DSLRs in daylight photography.

Anyway, enough waffle - here's my image.

What I do know is a slight tilt and not so great guiding, but I'm not worried too much about this at the moment, as I know what I need to do to fix it.

What I'd like is some pointers as to my processing.

I've used Pixinight to calibrate, stack, crop, stretch, mask, NR, sharpen details slightly - then save as a tiff and over to Photoshop to adjust the contrast a bit in layers.

It's certainly probably the best I've managed to date, so if any sharped eyed experts can see anything obvious (too much NR, or sharpening for example) please do comment.

Remember, I know about the slight tilt and not so perfect guiding.

The total integration time is 20 x 600s 7nm Ha captured last night, imaging scale is 3.18"pp.

Next step, learn RGB, then presumably how to blend Ha SII and OIII.

 

 

[Davey-T]

Hi Jon, coming along nicely, as I am neither sharp eyed or a PI expert can't be much help, I will say that the humidity has been horrendous recently and last night was no exception, I've dumped quite a few subs, probably two thirds from recent nights.

I think this is the first image I've seen from the Star 71 MK2 so look forward to a nice round star image when you're sorted.

Those Tadpoles should pop out nicely if / when it's coloured in.

Happy New Year

Dave

[Jonk]

Humidity has been over 80% for a while now, you're right Dave. The old TemperHUM is fairly good at showing what's going on outside.

Problem with that is it's another USB device to go wrong and cause issues!

I'm pleased with the image given the issues, and will attempt to add either some LRGB or OIII and SII to it when we get the next clear night.

The mount needs tuning and I'm still waiting for my pier to be ready, so hopefully once they're sorted, I'll be winning.

In the meantime, I'll keep on practising.

[swag72]

It's looking good - You've certainly got everything in there showing as it should. I don't think there's anything amiss with the processing side

[PatrickGilliland]

Nice work, this area is more tricky than you would expect and you have done a good job all round.  Paddy

[Jonk]

Thanks for the kind words, at least I'm on the right track.

The target was chosen a) because of it's position relative to me and b ) the amount of Ha in that region.

I'm glad I'm apparently getting it right!