Collecting more data on a different night - iOptron Skyguider pro

[Grant93]

Hello again everyone!

Was doing 60 second exposures unguided on M51 yesterday, come to stacking and editting it today. I can bring out the real colors (I think) but it seems very, translucent (not too sure on the right term when it comes to astrophotography). I got about 45 minutes of lights, did some darks and bias etc.

Without going into too much detail about the current picture, just wondering without a goto system, how do I go about gathering more data tonight, and making sure I can still stack them with my data from last night? I've never tried it, I just assume I might be struggling to stack if the frames are a little off?

Also would it negatively effect the image anyway if I attempted 90 second exposures and stack them with the 60 second exposures?

Ill share an image of the current edit just for those who may be interested! The scope is a ZS61 so its quite cropped, using a Canon EOS 800d.

I understand Ill have to start the editting process all over again, but I'm ok with that, the more practice, the better!

Thanks everyone!

Grant

[Jay6879]

11 hours ago, Grant93 said:

Hello again everyone!

Was doing 60 second exposures unguided on M51 yesterday, come to stacking and editting it today. I can bring out the real colors (I think) but it seems very, translucent (not too sure on the right term when it comes to astrophotography). I got about 45 minutes of lights, did some darks and bias etc.

Without going into too much detail about the current picture, just wondering without a goto system, how do I go about gathering more data tonight, and making sure I can still stack them with my data from last night? I've never tried it, I just assume I might be struggling to stack if the frames are a little off?

Also would it negatively effect the image anyway if I attempted 90 second exposures and stack them with the 60 second exposures?

Ill share an image of the current edit just for those who may be interested! The scope is a ZS61 so its quite cropped, using a Canon EOS 800d.

I understand Ill have to start the editting process all over again, but I'm ok with that, the more practice, the better!

Thanks everyone!

Grant

 

Have you thought about getting an Asiair Pro? It has elevated the whole game for me. I've got a Star Adventurer so same schtick, no goto and a pain in the ass to find objects. With the asiair pro I would find the whirlpool galaxy in an app like stellarium, get the dec and RA coordinates. I'd point the camera in the general direction and take a short 2 second exposure and then plate solve. It then gives me the coordinates of where the camera is pointed, I compare it to the objects coordinates and adjust.

I can get the object in frame in five minutes or so most of the time. And when you are close enough you can then use the annotate feature, it'll put a nice green circle around any objects in frame, even if you can actually see it in the preview. It has made imaging so much smoother, less time messing around with thirty second exposures looking for a faint blob iand more time imaging. Honestly I was getting very frustrated by the whole ordeal before I picked one of those up.

 

This allowed me, for the first time, to properly image across multiple nights. And yeah you can stack multiple exposure lengths, and for many objects it is recommended. Especially for HDR imaging. Just make sure that each night has its own set of calibration frames.

 

As for reframing on different nights without an asiair pro? It's brutal, I honestly have no tips, I couldn't figure out a way to do it efficiently and consistently. Maybe others will chime in with help on that?

[Clarkey]

If you can get quite close most of the stacking software will adjust the position to stack the images. You will get some overlap at the edges but it should not be a problem. Are you using any data capture software? Most of these have some form of assistance in finding targets. If you are just manually locating the target and using an intervalometer you will find it tough.

[Grant93]

7 hours ago, Jay6879 said:

 

Have you thought about getting an Asiair Pro? It has elevated the whole game for me. I've got a Star Adventurer so same schtick, no goto and a pain in the ass to find objects. With the asiair pro I would find the whirlpool galaxy in an app like stellarium, get the dec and RA coordinates. I'd point the camera in the general direction and take a short 2 second exposure and then plate solve. It then gives me the coordinates of where the camera is pointed, I compare it to the objects coordinates and adjust.

I can get the object in frame in five minutes or so most of the time. And when you are close enough you can then use the annotate feature, it'll put a nice green circle around any objects in frame, even if you can actually see it in the preview. It has made imaging so much smoother, less time messing around with thirty second exposures looking for a faint blob iand more time imaging. Honestly I was getting very frustrated by the whole ordeal before I picked one of those up.

 

This allowed me, for the first time, to properly image across multiple nights. And yeah you can stack multiple exposure lengths, and for many objects it is recommended. Especially for HDR imaging. Just make sure that each night has its own set of calibration frames.

 

As for reframing on different nights without an asiair pro? It's brutal, I honestly have no tips, I couldn't figure out a way to do it efficiently and consistently. Maybe others will chime in with help on that?

That seems like a great idea! Although I would like to leave it for a while before making another big purchase. But after reading up on everything it does, I think its definitely one to put on the list to buy!

 

40 minutes ago, Clarkey said:

If you can get quite close most of the stacking software will adjust the position to stack the images. You will get some overlap at the edges but it should not be a problem. Are you using any data capture software? Most of these have some form of assistance in finding targets. If you are just manually locating the target and using an intervalometer you will find it tough.

Sadly yes I am just using a intervalometer, and a spotting scope to find targets. What data capture software would you recommend?

[RoloFanatic]

Thats an amazing image! I didn't know you could get such a detailed image from only 60 second exposures

[callisto]

6 minutes ago, RoloFanatic said:

Thats an amazing image! I didn't know you could get such a detailed image from only 60 second exposures

Just what I was going to say....well done 

 

Mark

[Clarkey]

9 hours ago, Grant93 said:

What data capture software would you recommend?

If you are going down the PC route there are lots of options - but it does get more complicated. Astrophotography Tool (APT) has an option to mark stars in the images so you can go back and re-frame your target. If you can get close with a widefield it does help with repeatability. As you do not have 'goto' you will still have to find targets yourself though. I used this before I had got to grips with plate solving (but I did have goto which made it much easier). You could still plate solve images just to calculate where you are in the sky and the relative error to your target.

To be honest your M51 is pretty good given it is the summer. If you can get a slightly longer session on targets you could still get some great images with the kit you have. Unfortunately as everyone on the forum will tell you, AP is a slippery and expensive slope - but you can still get good results on a budget.

[Grant93]

8 hours ago, RoloFanatic said:

Thats an amazing image! I didn't know you could get such a detailed image from only 60 second exposures

 

8 hours ago, callisto said:

Just what I was going to say....well done 

 

Mark

Haha thank you both! I wanna push the boundries on my exposures but I think ill wait until my field flattener arrives, that way I know for sure whether I'm getting much star trailing, rather than wondering if the slightly stretch stars are because I havent got a flattener.

8 minutes ago, Clarkey said:

If you are going down the PC route there are lots of options - but it does get more complicated. Astrophotography Tool (APT) has an option to mark stars in the images so you can go back and re-frame your target. If you can get close with a widefield it does help with repeatability. As you do not have 'goto' you will still have to find targets yourself though. I used this before I had got to grips with plate solving (but I did have goto which made it much easier). You could still plate solve images just to calculate where you are in the sky and the relative error to your target.

To be honest your M51 is pretty good given it is the summer. If you can get a slightly longer session on targets you could still get some great images with the kit you have. Unfortunately as everyone on the forum will tell you, AP is a slippery and expensive slope - but you can still get good results on a budget.

Ill have a look at APT thank you!