In praise of modern astro cameras and software

[tomato]

With a few clear and moonless nights recently, I have been attempting a mosaic of the Virgo galaxy cluster. With it only reaching an altitude of 50 degrees from my location I have to image either side of the meridian which means it is in the South west for the latter stages of the session and unfortunately only about 15 degrees above a tall LED streetlight. This means the rig is looking at this:

However, the panel in question captured on the scope nearest the light came out like this, (Esprit 150/QHY268c/IR/UV cut filter, 15x 2 mins, default stretch in APP, no gradient removal applied):

After APP Light Pollution removal:

For sure, it would be better without the streetlight, but I am pleasantly surprised with what modern cameras can deliver under these conditions. Maybe my extended dewshields help?

Oh, and 10 out of the 15 subs had very prominent satellite trails, but APP sorted those out as well.

 

[Clarkey]

7 hours ago, tomato said:

Oh, and 10 out of the 15 subs had very prominent satellite trails, but APP sorted those out as well

This is the one thing I find APP not so good at - at least with auto settings. Even with 100+ subs I still get residual satellite trails unless I manually set the rejection criteria.

However, in general I would be producing total rubbish without the modern technology. (Some might say I still do🤣).

[tomato]

You are quite right, l have noticed ghostly remnants of trails if I zoom in, but I’ve never changed the default settings.

I do need to become more of a pixel peeper.🧐

[Clarkey]

OCD is a wonderful thing!!

[ollypenrice]

I was showing some non-astronomical friends a collection of deep sky images last week and it struck me just how astonishing our technology really is. They were amazed that these came from small amateur instruments.

Severe trails vanish in Astro Art sigma stacking with as few as a dozen subs. They are a non-problem with CMOS-quantities of short subs.

Olly

[tomato]

Indeed, when I recall what could (or more to the point, what couldn’t) be achieved with equipment in the pre digital age, I am both amazed and delighted.