Had a go at Veil Nebula

[Astro Waves]

Well, been a while since I've posted seen as how its been a while since a clear night up here in Edinburgh. I've been wanting to try the Veil Nebula for bit, I had a go at it over 2 months months ago on my birthday which was a super clear night as luck would have it. I didn't have my laptop with me as I was out and about shooting so just had to use the camera screen to see if I could find it, did some star hopping and thought I had it bang on......turns out I didn't (first pic). Pretty disappointed but nae bother, its not going any where. 

Fast forward over two months and the holy trinity happened, it was a clear night all night on a Friday (as I can only shoot Friday/Saturday due to work), got to use laptop with shooting and I wasn't that tired. I know that to get anything super ace for the Veil you need a lot of data on it but I more just wanted to see if I could actually get it and you know what I bloody well did. I only managed to get a total of abut 42 minutes,  I was having a lot of problems with star trailing so re-set up everything a couple of times. I tried to do a few different edits but still struggled with star reduction but this is the best I got for now. Really need to get into guiding due to the holy trinity being so rare here. Let us know what you think.

Final Image: Redcat, iOptron Skyguider Pro, Canon 750D astro mod

Lights: x92 - 45secs

Darks: x20 - 45secs

Flats: x20 - 1/26secs

Biases: x50 1/4000secs 

[drivera]

That's awesome!!

It gives me hope with the same setup; SGP and a Redcat + Sony A7iii (not astro modded though).

I'm hoping I get some clear skies soon in Kent as I really want to attack the Veil nebula!

[AstroMuni]

On 22/07/2021 at 21:27, Astro Waves said:

Biases: x50 1/4000secs 

Lovely picture.

How come your biases exposure timing is way different to all the others?

[Astro Waves]

4 hours ago, drivera said:

That's awesome!!

It gives me hope with the same setup; SGP and a Redcat + Sony A7iii (not astro modded though).

I'm hoping I get some clear skies soon in Kent as I really want to attack the Veil nebula!

Thanks very much. The SGP and redcat are great together, been really enjoying using them. Only thing I'd say about the Veil especially when not using as astro mod is definitely shoot to laptop and proper stretch the data on the test images to make sure you've got it framed nicely other wise you might struggle as I did first time around.

 

3 hours ago, AstroMuni said:

Lovely picture.

How come your biases exposure timing is way different to all the others?

Thanks

With the biases when shooting DSLR, from previous tutorials I've watched a few different people have said shooting the biases should be at the cameras fastest shutter setting, works pretty well. 

[AstroMuni]

14 hours ago, Astro Waves said:

With the biases when shooting DSLR, from previous tutorials I've watched a few different people have said shooting the biases should be at the cameras fastest shutter setting, works pretty well. 

I thought the flats and the biases need to be taken with same exposure levels. Time for me to go back to reading up on this

[drivera]

20 hours ago, Astro Waves said:

Thanks very much. The SGP and redcat are great together, been really enjoying using them. Only thing I'd say about the Veil especially when not using as astro mod is definitely shoot to laptop and proper stretch the data on the test images to make sure you've got it framed nicely other wise you might struggle as I did first time around.

 

I attempted the Veil last night.  Omg it was painful. My Redcat has been replaced by a GT71 as I broke the Redcat 😞 When I got the GT71 I also purchased the L-Extreme filter to see.

I'm shooting with a Sony A7iii and I feel theres something weird going on with the sensor - I can't get my bias/darks right. I'm trying to understand if it's okay or not by reading up on ADU values etc. 🤷‍♂️

Great point on framing! The GT71 is a bit on the heavy side, and I was using the new WO Base for the SGP and I messed up the levels, so my guiding was shot. The camera was upside down so I was taking a shot then watching it on the laptop, then moving it and it was so hard to get the framing. I was running out of time so I saw a clip and decided to run with it.

I just can't seem to learn how to process images correctly! I did this with Siril then Photoshop 😕. 

 

This is:

- 30 Lights x 180s

- 20 Darks

- 20 Flats

- 40 Biases.

 

My first attempt!  I'm lost on the processing side.....but  guess slowly but surely? Oh yeah excuse the upside/down/wrong way image. 

[Marvin Jenkins]

On 22/07/2021 at 22:27, Astro Waves said:

Well, been a while since I've posted seen as how its been a while since a clear night up here in Edinburgh. I've been wanting to try the Veil Nebula for bit, I had a go at it over 2 months months ago on my birthday which was a super clear night as luck would have it. I didn't have my laptop with me as I was out and about shooting so just had to use the camera screen to see if I could find it, did some star hopping and thought I had it bang on......turns out I didn't (first pic). Pretty disappointed but nae bother, its not going any where. 

Fast forward over two months and the holy trinity happened, it was a clear night all night on a Friday (as I can only shoot Friday/Saturday due to work), got to use laptop with shooting and I wasn't that tired. I know that to get anything super ace for the Veil you need a lot of data on it but I more just wanted to see if I could actually get it and you know what I bloody well did. I only managed to get a total of abut 42 minutes,  I was having a lot of problems with star trailing so re-set up everything a couple of times. I tried to do a few different edits but still struggled with star reduction but this is the best I got for now. Really need to get into guiding due to the holy trinity being so rare here. Let us know what you think.

Final Image: Redcat, iOptron Skyguider Pro, Canon 750D astro mod

Lights: x92 - 45secs

Darks: x20 - 45secs

Flats: x20 - 1/26secs

Biases: x50 1/4000secs 

Just take in that star field, mind blowing in its intensity. I love these images, they are so honest.

Marv

[ollypenrice]

I think you had tighter focus for the first image but the second is still good. I would just give the colour balance a slight tweak since your background sky is a little green.

23 hours ago, AstroMuni said:

I thought the flats and the biases need to be taken with same exposure levels. Time for me to go back to reading up on this

Flats should be exposed so that the histogram peaks about a third of the way to saturation, so a third of the way from left to right on the graph.  A bias is, by definition, taken at the camera's shortest possible exposure with no light getting in.  If you match your light-free exposures to your flats they are called flat darks and if you match them to you lights (ie your pictures) they are called darks.

Olly

[AstroMuni]

3 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

Flats should be exposed so that the histogram peaks about a third of the way to saturation, so a third of the way from left to right on the graph.  A bias is, by definition, taken at the camera's shortest possible exposure with no light getting in.  If you match your light-free exposures to your flats they are called flat darks and if you match them to you lights (ie your pictures) they are called darks.

Thats where I think I got that notion from - since we have darks to match the lights, therefore in my simple mind the biases would be equivalent to flat darks

[Astro Waves]

On 04/08/2021 at 15:36, drivera said:

 

I attempted the Veil last night.  Omg it was painful. My Redcat has been replaced by a GT71 as I broke the Redcat 😞 When I got the GT71 I also purchased the L-Extreme filter to see.

I'm shooting with a Sony A7iii and I feel theres something weird going on with the sensor - I can't get my bias/darks right. I'm trying to understand if it's okay or not by reading up on ADU values etc. 🤷‍♂️

Great point on framing! The GT71 is a bit on the heavy side, and I was using the new WO Base for the SGP and I messed up the levels, so my guiding was shot. The camera was upside down so I was taking a shot then watching it on the laptop, then moving it and it was so hard to get the framing. I was running out of time so I saw a clip and decided to run with it.

I just can't seem to learn how to process images correctly! I did this with Siril then Photoshop 😕. 

 

This is:

- 30 Lights x 180s

- 20 Darks

- 20 Flats

- 40 Biases.

 

My first attempt!  I'm lost on the processing side.....but  guess slowly but surely? Oh yeah excuse the upside/down/wrong way image. 

Doesn't sound like you had the easiest time shooting the Veil. I really like the image though, I like the almost light sea foam green/blue kinda colour. Processing is a whole other thing, despite being a photographer for years, editing astro stuff I just had to almost start form scratch again. Its so tricky, I just watch as many tutorials I can do find tips and trick from various people and try and create my own flow that I'm happy with but it takes ages.

 

9 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

I think you had tighter focus for the first image but the second is still good. I would just give the colour balance a slight tweak since your background sky is a little green.

I definitely agree on both those points. I've done another edit since this post and much happier with the all round colour of it. Focus is something I struggle a bit with, have thought about an electronic focuser but not sure on that yet as I should probably get a guide scope first. 

 

22 hours ago, Marvin Jenkins said:

Just take in that star field, mind blowing in its intensity. I love these images, they are so honest.

Marv

When ever this happens and I'm off with the framing, I just try and pull out as many stars as I do just to blow my tiny mind of how many are actually out there.