M106, 60min, Altair 72mm, ZWO178MC

[Bobby1970]

Grabbed an hour of light frames last night, used sharpcap but saved the images individually rather than live stacking them. I also captured 30 darks and 25 flats (I think I did these correctly, but still unsure).

I used DSS to stack the frames and Startools to try and process the image (trying to use some of the advice given by Ivo and others)

 

I think, maybe this is a little better than my other efforts, I haven't tried dithering yet, that's something for another day I think. 

Thanks for looking 🙂

 

 

 

[MarkAR]

Looks really good.

Dithering will help in reducing background noise so you don't have to be so aggressive in post processing.

[Bobby1970]

8 minutes ago, MarkAR said:

Looks really good.

Dithering will help in reducing background noise so you don't have to be so aggressive in post processing.

Thanks Mark. 

Am I correct in my understanding that I do not need to be guiding or need a guide scope to dither?

Looks like APT has something built in. Might set up a capture plan and give it a go next time. 

 

[happy-kat]

That has much more definition then live stacking earlier examples I think. In your DSS settings don't forget to ensure not using white balance, though you probably already have that sorted.

[Bobby1970]

1 minute ago, happy-kat said:

That has much more definition then live stacking earlier examples I think. In your DSS settings don't forget to ensure not using white balance, though you probably already have that sorted.

Thanks, I think it looks better. I think maybe I have been expecting to keep the same size and scale as the original fits images and reduce the noise to an acceptable level. Binning has helped a bit I think. Just trying to find a happy medium as I would like my finished image to be a little larger. 

I'm definitely not white balancing anything in DSS. Double checked this. 

I do seen to always end up with a sort of light brown colour tho. Initially the image is very green so I use the sliders in Startools to reduce it. And also cap it. But I still can't get a colour I'm properly happy with. 

I am also considering making a cooler for my cam. Watched a few videos on YouTube. I realise it won't be as good as a genuine cooled cam. But its got to have some improvement right?

 

 

[MarkAR]

29 minutes ago, Bobby1970 said:

Thanks Mark. 

Am I correct in my understanding that I do not need to be guiding or need a guide scope to dither?

Looks like APT has something built in. Might set up a capture plan and give it a go next time. 

 

Guiding is a bonus, you should be able to take longer exposures. 

Probably not necessary for dithering, give it a try.

[Bobby1970]

So, I had another play around with this today, cant hurt by practicing and playing with the data I already have (well that's my excuse lol )

Been struggling getting the colour to look right. Again Ivo the Startool creator has given some input but I thought I would see if I could get better results myself also.

I thought this was maybe a little better, but maybe too blue now ???

 

Tried not to bin as much also

 

Thanks for everyones input, much appreciated

 

Edited May 21, 2020 by Bobby1970

[MarkAR]

Always worth having a fiddle to see what works or not. You've managed to bring up the outer halo more but maybe at the cost of noise. 

Maybe try a little noise reduction masking off everything but the galaxies.

Yes a little bit on the blue side me thinks. Dialling that back might make it look less noisy as well.

It's all about gentle tweaks, carefully looking at before and after and also trying different processes for the same purpose.

[Bobby1970]

i'm not messing with it any more now. lol

last one, honest

 

All things considered, and after looking at lots of m106 images on flickr, I think this one is ok tbh. 

[tomato]

 Nice one, take a look at this thread, the ASI 178 coolers retrofitted by @Tomatobro won’t bring the temp down to 20 below ambient, but they will keep the temp steady in single figures, which helps a lot with the calibration frames.

 

 

 

[Bobby1970]

3 minutes ago, tomato said:

 Nice one, take a look at this thread, the ASI 178 coolers retrofitted by @Tomatobro won’t bring the temp down to 20 below ambient, but they will keep the temp steady in single figures, which helps a lot with the calibration frames.

 

 

 

I am going to be doing this at some point for sure, watched a video on youtube of a guy doing the zwo 120 I think it was. Fairly cheap to do also. One question, should the fan be sucking the heat away from the heatsink, or should it be sucking air onto it? If you see what I mean??

 

 

[tomato]

The fan should be pulling air from the camera and out the end, so to speak. 
So if you put your hand near the fan you should feel air blowing on to it.