First Light - ZWO1600MM - M27

[blinky]

Miracles do happen!  Got my my camera tonight and it was clear!  Took a while to get going, drivers etc all just worked but had to mess about with the spacing of the OAG.  After that it was pretty easy....  This is one sensitive camera!  The image below is 60s Ha, 60s O3 and 120s SII.  Realise now that I cant simply double the exposure of 1 channel just 'cos its dimmer as it messes up the background!  But Im still happy, a total of 4 mins, and I have my first narrowband Ha/O3/S2 image!

Off to be now as Im on a course tomorrow so need some sleep...

 

 

[blinky]

Is there a way to resolve the different background of the Blue/SII channel in Pixinsight?  Can I use Pixel Maths to somehow divide the image by 2?

[Demonperformer]

That is a superb start for 4min data - and, after all, your first time out with the camera it was just a "test run", wasn't it? With the 1600, I tend to a use sub-length ratio of 75:60:87 (Ha:O3:S2) to compensate for the difference in QE at the different wavelengths, but don't vary them based on signal strength.

[Guest]

This camera is a lot of fun - and easy to get great results with so you're in for many hours of success with it ?

I use unity gain at 139 with an offset of 10; always got my best results with that (exposure times for me at that setting are 2min for RGB, 1min for L and 5min for narrow band)

Pixel Math is fantastic for mixing narrow band channels - I use the following settings to start with then move the values around to express the channels as necessary.

SHO

R = (S *.90)+(H*.10)

G= (H*.85) + (S *.15)

B= O

HOO

R = (H *.90)+(O*.10)

G = (H *.10)+(O*.90)

B = O

If you're not familiar with Pixel Math there are some great tutorials out there to help you try the settings I mentioned.

Good luck and yes, amazing you had a clear night on the day you got the camera! ?

David

[wornish]

7 hours ago, blinky said:

Is there a way to resolve the different background of the Blue/SII channel in Pixinsight?  Can I use Pixel Maths to somehow divide the image by 2?

In PixInsight the way to match the different image brightness values is to use linear fit

[blinky]

Great, thanks David and Dave!

[wimvb]

That's a great result for such a short integration time.

Just a few hours more of the same, a bit of processing, and you have a winner.

[blinky]

Discovered I never changed the filter, just the name of the sub! Here is a version stacked, it was around 40 mins, no noise reduction or darks.  Looks like guiding was slightly off as well as focus but not bad for 1st light!

 

[Demonperformer]

8 hours ago, blinky said:

Discovered I never changed the filter, just the name of the sub!

Don't we all have our stories along those lines! Mine is leaving the Y-mask I use for focussing on the front of the scope for an entire session.