Heart Nebula IC1805

[Bluesboystig]

So for my third project since getting my imaging setup I decided to give a go at the Heart Nebula. UK skies were very clear and the moon was a beautiful 0%. I managed to capture more than 3h of data, which I thought would be enough to get something decently sharp, but I'm still getting a hell of a lot of noise to get some results during processing. I'm assuming that the learning curve for both imaging and processing is vertical  I'm attaching the stacked result if anyone would like to give it a go and see what can be done with it. Maybe ISO 800 is a bit low? I obviously made a big mistake with the framing, but I really couldn't see any detail of the nebulosity in the LCD screen of the camera. Any tips on how to frame faint objects when the camera screen doesn't show anything apart from stars? Otherwise, quite happy with the tracking of the GTI at 2 mins. Any comments/tips/help/suggestions are more than welcome, this is such an amazing hobby and this community is so full of knowledge!

Equipment: WO z61 with flattener, SW Star Adventurer GTI, Canon EOS 2000d, Optolong L-Pro filter. 

Session: 101x120" subs at ISO 800, 20 darks, 20 flats, 20 bias frames. Bortle 5 sky, 0% Moon

Siril: stacking, background extraction, green noise removal, asinh transformation, STARNET for star removal, generalised hyperbolic stretch transformation, star recomposition

GIMP: some more gentle stretching, contrast

FIT file attached for your amusement

Thanks so much for the feedback!

 

Script stack result.fit

Edited September 17, 2023 by Bluesboystig

[Elp]

It's a good result. Generally, and no one really tells you this, noise is usually removed or significantly reduced at post processing. Yes you can average it out better with longer total imaging time but it will still be there, even with a cooled camera.

If you're using gimp you can download the g'mic filters/plugins, there's a decent NR algorithm within called Iain's Denoise, but only use it very very gently otherwise you'll get tadpole like artifacts especially with dim stars in the background. From experience doing photo and video, I find it a bit odd if an image lacks noise, it doesn't seem natural (ie it looks computer generated even though digital means of capture cause the abberation), so some remaining looks okay.

If you're using the Optolong Lpro, it's only really worth using if your LP is particularly causing bad gradients and only on broadband targets, it's usually better to image without. For something like the heart which is an emission nebula I believe, the Lenhance/extreme/ultimate will transform your captures, unless if I'm mistaken and you've used the latter.

ISO doesn't really change the photon capture, it in simple terms boosts the electronic response to make the overall image brighter (and noise), 800 to 1600 is what I usually used with a Canon.

If you can copy your images to a computer and upload to astrometry.net it can plate solve the images for you to tell you what it's pointing at, otherwise incorporate some sort of software to do this (Ekos, Nina, asiair etc) if you can, it'll make your life so much easier.

[Bluesboystig]

Yes I'm using the L-Pro (edited the mistake in the original info), I'll try shooting without a filter next time, hopefully soon. At the moment I don't have any software assistance while imaging, but already planning to get an asiair mini for guiding, plate solving etc. That should hopefully solve the framing issue. 

Quote

If you're using gimp you can download the g'mic filters/plugins, there's a decent NR algorithm within called Iain's Denoise, but only use it very very gently otherwise you'll get tadpole like artifacts especially with dim stars in the background

I didn't know about these plugins, worth checking them out for sure! 

Thanks so much for the response, much appreciated.

[AstroMuni]

15 hours ago, Bluesboystig said:

So for my third project since getting my imaging setup I decided to give a go at the Heart Nebula.

Nebulae such as Heart are quite faint, so suggest practicing with brigher objects first - atm you could try Ring, Dumbell nebulae to name a few prominent ones that are in our skies. It will give you the confidence and help configure settings for such objects

Edited September 18, 2023 by AstroMuni

[AstroMuni]

I took the liberty of applying the following to your jpeg image using Siril

- Increased saturation

- applied contrast limited adaptive histogram enhancement (CLAHE)

- Noise reduction

- changed black point