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[sPhyre91]

5 minutes ago, WolfieGlos said:

Great image so early in your AP journey, well done! Is your camera modded, or is that a stock DSLR?

Going back to the Skymax, I agree with what others have said, but if you still have it, you could potentially try it on globular clusters https://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/?fov[]=70||186||1|1|0&messier=13 . I've not used one myself, but it's just a thought.

Hi Chris, thank you for your kind words!

Of course I still have my Mak, I think for visual observation is still a great option and with a tracked mount I am able to get also longer exposures and get good images! The camera is stock, I don't think I am going to mod it as I would also use it for general photography! 

I read in your signature you also use GIMP to post process, have you sot some advices for me?

[AstroNebulee]

Wow what a stunning image 👏. Well done 

 

Lee 

[AstroMuni]

On 07/08/2023 at 09:11, sPhyre91 said:

My target for these nights has been the M27, and here it is!

20x180s lights, only 5 darks (my camera battery was exhausted) at ISO 800

Stacked in DSS and edited in GIMP.

Great image for a first timer. It just goes to show that you dont always have to ditch your current equipment to get better images 😉

A suggestion on post capture software - while GIMP is a great software, its cumbersome to use for AP. Try Siril (also free) as its been written specifically for AP. Good luck and look forward to seeing more images from the Mak & Redcat 👍

[AstroMuni]

On 07/08/2023 at 09:11, sPhyre91 said:

My target for these nights has been the M27, and here it is!

20x180s lights, only 5 darks (my camera battery was exhausted) at ISO 800

Stacked in DSS and edited in GIMP.

Oops, dont know what happened there and its uploaded my message multiple times 😞

Edited August 11, 2023 by AstroMuni

[AstroMuni]

Repeated message, hence removed

Edited August 11, 2023 by AstroMuni

[sPhyre91]

2 hours ago, AstroNebulee said:

Wow what a stunning image 👏. Well done 

 

Lee 

Thank you so much Lee! If you have any advice or critique are all welcome!!

18 minutes ago, AstroMuni said:

Great image for a first timer. It just goes to show that you dont always have to ditch your current equipment to get better images 😉

A suggestion on post capture software - while GIMP is a great software, its cumbersome to use for AP. Try Siril (also free) as its been written specifically for AP. Good luck and look forward to seeing more images from the Mak & Redcat 👍

Thank you! I am learning also Siril, and watching a lot of tutorials to get started! I will surely get this post and my gallery updated as I wish to get any advice you all can give me!! 

[WolfieGlos]

6 hours ago, sPhyre91 said:

Hi Chris, thank you for your kind words!

Of course I still have my Mak, I think for visual observation is still a great option and with a tracked mount I am able to get also longer exposures and get good images! The camera is stock, I don't think I am going to mod it as I would also use it for general photography! 

I read in your signature you also use GIMP to post process, have you sot some advices for me?

I do use GIMP, but more for finishing touches. Like AstroMuni said, try Siril. I use either Siril or ASTAP to stack images, and then process in Siril to get the image 80%-90% there, and then finish in GIMP. Curves/levels, sharpening, colour balance and star overlaying/reduction/processing. It's a somewhat convoluted process that has evolved over time, but don't worry about all of that for now - just learn the basics and get to grips with it, and practise. You can keep your stacks and re-process weeks/months/years later.

To start on Siril, I literally followed their guide: https://siril.org/tutorials/tuto-scripts/ and went from there. Just note that the default scripts only work if you are taking all calibration frames (darks, biases and flats) which I can't tell if you are currently. You should do, as they make a large impact on your final image in calibrating out vignetting, dust motes and other optical issues which may be present in your system.

With regards to the camera, I actually purchased a second DSLR which the astro mod already done. This way, I have a DSLR that works for all in the night sky, and one for day time use! 

[sPhyre91]

Hello Guys, here is a little update on my late shootings!

As @WolfieGlos suggested, I started using Siril to both Stack and post-process my images!

Thanks to all the tutorial on the web, I was able to rapidly understand the basics of this powerful software, and the starnet++ integration is a great intuitive tool to use!

So here is my progress so far, but I'm still looking forward to receive as many critiques as you can give me to improve my results!

 

All images are taken in my backyard, Bortle4 but with a lot of surrounding lights. 

The equipment used is:

Nikon D5500 no mod, no filters

StarAdventurer GTi guided with ZWO 120 mini

Redcat 51 scope

I used NINA as the acquisition sw, phd2 as guiding sw and all images are stacked and processed in Siril.

Siril workflow: BG extraction, color calibration, photometric color calibration, Green Noise reduction, starnet++ star removal, asinh stretching, Hystogram stretching, stretching starmask and adjusting black point for shadows and contrast.

 

Thank you and clear skies!