Jump to content

SkySurveyBanner.jpg.21855908fce40597655603b6c9af720d.jpg

My first ever DSO - stacked TIF inside


Recommended Posts

My first ever DSO!

M101 with a very cheap (£30) Canon 75-300mm kit lens at 300mm f5.6 mounted on a HEQ5 pro.

 

Lots of faff to obtain this image -first polar aligned to a pseudo-polaris, then star aligned to a pseudo-arcturus, must’ve been around an hour of messing around before data capture, must continue to practice!


Date: 14/6/2020

Lights: 28 x 90sec, ISO 800

Darks: 16

Bias: 60

Flats: Nil

 

Stacked in DSS and (badly) processed in PS CS6 - initial curve stretch, manual gradient/vignette removal using a synthetic flat frame, further stretch and an attempt at noise reduction.
 

I’m keen to receive feedback on this, I’d be happy for one of you fantastic, experienced folk to have a go at the data (stacked tif below). It would be useful for me to know where the relative balance of the bad SNR lies between a) equipment flaws, b) short integration, c) my very novice processing skills

 

thanks in advance,

Rik

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rturfn7ewj97a3d/Autosave.tif?dl=0


 

E204CF00-3E42-4FE5-A6EC-B7C2012E8AD9.jpeg

99E11413-FAD5-4E5A-B10E-9D7FABBC6BAC.jpeg

FC6791AD-2FAE-4586-9670-0C019F9B38FB.jpeg

  • Like 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice one Rik.  Excellent start. 

I recognised it immediately as M101 and your stars have come out nice and compact.  If that is without a guide scope and guiding software, then it's really very good indeed.

I'll leave the processing advice to the clever bods on here.   But when you say "Your first ever DSO" ... look again, I have counted at least three others, maybe more.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think you've done really well to capture what you have with the standard kit lens in such a short amount of time. I had a go at stretching the TIF file you linked to in GIMP. I'm relatively new to astrophotography myself so my image processing skills need some work - I haven't had the chance to capture much of my own data so I appreciate you making yours available for me to practice on! 😀

Taking flats would definitely help to remove the vignetting. The corners are a lot darker than the centre even after cropping it a lot. I normally take about 15 of them and it seems to work well.

Other than that, just stacking more exposures should help. I don't think you can take too many of them!

Here's what I managed...

M101.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, Kyle Allen said:

I think you've done really well to capture what you have with the standard kit lens in such a short amount of time. I had a go at stretching the TIF file you linked to in GIMP. I'm relatively new to astrophotography myself so my image processing skills need some work - I haven't had the chance to capture much of my own data so I appreciate you making yours available for me to practice on! 😀

Taking flats would definitely help to remove the vignetting. The corners are a lot darker than the centre even after cropping it a lot. I normally take about 15 of them and it seems to work well.

Other than that, just stacking more exposures should help. I don't think you can take too many of them!

Here's what I managed...

M101.jpg

Fantastic, the dark space are much cleaner in your version than mine, many thanks for having a go!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had a go at processing your data. You need to take flats to get rid of the vignetting on the edge of the frame which makes processing easier. I had to crop quite a lot to overcome it. This is very good for a first try though! Do you live in a light-poIluted area? I might have a go at this galaxy myself if I get another clear night.

Screenshot 2020-06-27 at 12.02.56 AM.png

Edited by Nerf_Caching
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.