MY IC434 also WIP

[scotty38]

This is from 30 x 300s last night and all frames stacked. the first 16 before the flip have obvious gradients but I stacked them all anyway. STF applied to HT and here we are that's it.

The thing for me is I am getting narked with the L-eXtreme halos so my general imaging ability aside would I be better off looking for a different filter? I know mono might be a better (different) answer but I'm not sinking funds in to that just yet 🙂

[dannybgoode]

Stunning amount of detail regardless of the halos but yes, they would annoy me also.  My scope / camera combo does not allow for widefield work at the moment and I I looking to rectify that.  Sure I could set up some panels but that requires a lot of clear nights or would have to be a project over a couple of years to gather a nice wide view like this so I am looking at camera and scope options accordingly.

[scotty38]

Thanks, I took the data to APP and used it to extract just Ha but, while the halos are a bit better, it's nothing like yours in any way - to be expected of course as I'm using OSC. I don't want to commit to mono so may have to look at different filters, maybe even separate Ha and Oiii and suffer the efficiency hit....

[scotty38]

10 minutes ago, dannybgoode said:

 My scope / camera combo does not allow for widefield work at the moment and I I looking to rectify that.

I could swap your LZOS for my WO GT81.... Think nothing of it, my pleasure 🙂

Edited January 5, 2022 by scotty38

[geeklee]

2 hours ago, scotty38 said:

STF applied to HT and here we are that's it.

Fantastic @scotty38

2 hours ago, scotty38 said:

The thing for me is I am getting narked with the L-eXtreme halos

Those halos are frustrating popping up on medium stars as well  There seem to be a lot more dual band filters on the market recently for OSC, it might be worth a look around.  Mono isn't always a halo-free either!

[dannybgoode]

7 minutes ago, scotty38 said:

I could swap your LZOS for my WO GT81.... Think nothing of it, my pleasure 🙂

I briefly considered your kind offer but will have to decline on this occasion  

I am sorely tempted by an SX-814 mono CCD to compliment the 674 - would give me a significantly wider FOV.   The other option is an 8" RASA for AP work and then enjoy the TMB for visual and perhaps a bit of AP as and when.  The other advantage of the RASA of course is that it is f2 so under my light polluted skies it may help gather the photons quicker.  A second scope is a more costly route though unless a second hand bargain shows up.

[scotty38]

19 minutes ago, geeklee said:

Fantastic @scotty38

Those halos are frustrating popping up on medium stars as well  There seem to be a lot more dual band filters on the market recently for OSC, it might be worth a look around.  Mono isn't always a halo-free either!

Agreed the problem being I only just spent £170 on this one but trying a few more filters is still cheaper than going full mono I guess 🙂

[iantaylor2uk]

I think the L-enhance filter is not as bad for halos. If it is clear tonight I'm planning on using a WO 81 GT IV on the horsehead nebula with an L-enhance filter (but with a 1x flattener, so the focal length will be about 480 mm) and will post the results. I use a ZWO 071 cooled camera and will likely use a gain of 200, cool the sensor to -5C and use 120 sec exposures.

[Budgie1]

IIRC, @scotty38, you also use the ASI294MC Pro?

I had a look at my results of the same target from 19th March 2021 using the Evostar 100ED DS Pro with 0.85 FF/FR, ASI294MC Pro and the L-eXtreme.

This is 23x120s subs, stacked in DSS and processed in PI using BackgroundNeutralization to removed the green cast and then SFT & HT only. So nowhere near the integration time of your image and you can just see the halos starting to form on some of the smaller stars. 

Unfortunately, this target is only visible to me of an hour or so due to trees, so I haven't had a chance to try me Askar Duo-Band on this one yet.

[scotty38]

Yes I'm using the 294mc Pro with WO GT81 and 0.8x flatener so running at about 382mm. I think I may have read before that the l-enhance doesn't suffer as much but yes, will have to try out some other filters, just for a laugh 🙂

[iantaylor2uk]

Managed to image the Horsehead nebula tonight - this was with a WO 81 GT IV refractor with 1x Hotech flattener and L-enhance filter using a ZWO 071 MC Pro cooled camera (with gain set to 200, sensor cooled to -5C, and 120 second exposures). Image below is processed using Nebulosity from a stack of 32 images (stacked with DSS, and included dark, flat and bias calibration frames) - the image has been cropped a bit.

Does this look better than with your L-extreme filter?

[scotty38]

10 hours ago, iantaylor2uk said:

Managed to image the Horsehead nebula tonight - this was with a WO 81 GT IV refractor with 1x Hotech flattener and L-enhance filter using a ZWO 071 MC Pro cooled camera (with gain set to 200, sensor cooled to -5C, and 120 second exposures). Image below is processed using Nebulosity from a stack of 32 images (stacked with DSS, and included dark, flat and bias calibration frames) - the image has been cropped a bit.

Does this look better than with your L-extreme filter?

I "think" I like the overall look of mine (don't know if that's the filter or camera as to why) but no question your halos are better (not as pronounced). I read last night that the narrower filters (extreme is 7nm enhance is 12nm) is what makes the halos worse so I guess that explains things.

[Annehouw]

@scotty38 These halos might be because of the filter, or something else in your optical train or a combination of this. I have had reflection problems that went away by placing the filter behind the reducer/flattener instead of in front.

I wrote on my experiences with dual narrowband filters and halos here: https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/805014-hfg1-and-something-on-dual-narrow-band-filters/

Edited January 6, 2022 by Annehouw

[scotty38]

1 minute ago, Annehouw said:

@scotty38 These halos might be because of the filter, or something else in your optical train or a combination of this. I have had reflection problems that went away by placing the filter behind the reducer/flattener instead of in front.

I wrote on my experiences with dual narrowband filters and halos here: https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/805014-hfg1-and-something-on-dual-narrow-band-filters/#entry11602222

Thanks and yes it's the L-eXtreme causing the issue, I have no such problem with the UV/IR filter. Just about to have a look at that link.