Second Attempt At Solar Imaging (and processing)

[Planetary Observer]

Second go at imaging the Sun yesterday. Unfortunately, I have had to contend with cloud, a bit of wind and not so good 'seeing'. That said, its come out reasonably ok, but I think I'm going need quite a bit more practise at solar imaging. Some good prominences showing around the edge of the disc, as well as some good filaments, plages and sunspots on the main body. 
Image taken at 12:08hrs 5th July 2024 using an Altair Astro GPCAM3 178c USB3 and Coronado Double Stack PST. Processed in Autostakkert and Lightroom.

[andyrawlins]

Great picture thanks  I’ve been struggling with Autostakkert! (V4) a bit with solar.  Have you been using any particular settings apart from surface?  How many alignment points are you using ?

I really like how you have got a 3D effect there.  I don’t quite get a full disc with my current setup but ny tips on how to enhance that globe effect?  I have the standard PST btw, no double stack.

[Planetary Observer]

Thanks @andyrawlins, appreciated. 

I capture my images as a .ser file in Sharpcap. I use Autostakkert V 3.1.4, and use settings  'Surface', 'Improved tracking', 'Laplace', 'Local' and 'Auto' in 'Reference frame'. My output is to a .Tiff file. I use 48 alignment points. 'Drizzle' is off, and I've used 30 and 40 % of frames captured. 
I haven't set out to get a 3D effect, that's just how this one has turned out after processing in Lightroom - I have only processed my solar images in Autostakkert and Lightroom. The processing I do depends on the image I have from Autostakkert, but any tweaks to exposure, highlights etc aside, (which I try to keep as minimal as possible), the main sliders in Lightroom that I use are 'Texture' and 'Clarity' and a small bit of sharpening if needed. I have a lot to learn about solar image processing, having only just started out with this.

[andyrawlins]

Brilliant, thanks for that info

[Hughsie]

On 06/07/2024 at 18:23, Planetary Observer said:

capture my images as a .ser file in Sharpcap. I use Autostakkert V 3.1.4, and use settings  'Surface', 'Improved tracking', 'Laplace', 'Local' and 'Auto' in 'Reference frame'. My output is to a .Tiff file. I use 48 alignment points. 'Drizzle' is off, and I've used 30 and 40 % of frames captured.

I agree with the above, however, I would set c1,000 alignment points and if I am capturing a feature near the limb where I know prominences are located then I will also drop the brightness to zero to set alignment points in the dark areas where the proms are.

 

If seeing is ok I will aim to collect a SER file made up of 5,000 frames. If there is some modest ‘wobble’ then maybe 2-3,000. If it’s total rubbish, pack up and do something else more constructive!
 

When choosing the number of frames to stack once the analysis is finished I will use the video slider and move it over to the right and watch the quality count drop from 100 to say 75%. AutoStakkert will report the number of frames that fall into that quality range. If I can get 100-120 frames with minimum quality of 75% then great. If I have more than 120 frames at 75% then I will reduce the number of frames used  aiming for 80/85% but keeping it around the 100 frame mark. It’s a bit suck it and see striking a balance between quality, detail and keeping the noise down. Best thing is to take the resulting stacked image and play with it in processing then restack using more or less frames. Over time you will get to know what works for your set up.

 

Edited July 8 by Hughsie

[Planetary Observer]

Great information @Hughsie, and thanks for that. @andyrawlins I've just realised that I wrote that I use 48 alignment points. Doh!! I use size 48 for the alignment points, and then the Auto AP. 

Edited July 8 by Planetary Observer