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Horsehead & Flame - Grabbed before the streetlight zone!

AndyUK

By AndyUK
in Imaging - Deep Sky

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AndyUK

AndyUK

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Orion isn't well placed for me - During late Autumn and winter it's mostly hidden by the house in the early evening, but when it does finally rise above the rooftop, it very quickly heads off into the "streetlight zone", subsequently it's not possible to grab 5-6 hrs of subs in one sitting...

My first go at this a few weeks back was a bit of a disaster - It was during a full moon and totally washed out. My 2nd attempt (with the Equinox 80) didn't do much better - Poorly framed, not enough subs and loads of noise (and I discovered the value of ensuring darks are taken at the same temp :p).

This is the 3rd attempt, this time with the MN190... Again, there's STILL not enough subs, So there's a bit of a stubborn gradient and still some noise - I could have maybe got another 3 frames, but last night the battery pack gave up on me after just over 2 hrs, so that was it for the night :). However, unless I get my new battery pack pretty soon, I don't think I'll be able to add any more subs to this this season... :)

I applied a composite layer mask to get Alnitak as small as it is in the raw stacked frame (which seems to have worked fairly well?), but I'm at a loss as to how to reduce that pink halo :).

(Maybe I should have taken more subs with slightly less exposure ?)

(EDIT: Oh, 7x600s, 20 Darks, flats and flat darks applied)

post-18819-133877542313_thumb.jpg

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Digz

Digz

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Snap, this is what I was trying last night, although yours if far better than mine! Was it taken with a Canon? You seem to have captured more detail in the HH than I managed.

Overall a great image.

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AndyUK

AndyUK

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Cheers all...!

(When I get my new battery, I'm hoping I'll have the confidence to take all the kit out to the "dark(er) site" I've arranged and get some serious all-nighters under my belt).

Cat - Yes, these MN190's certainly punch WAY above their weight, don't they :)! When I first got it, I wondered if I'd be able to manage it (it's a bit different from a refractor :)), but I think I'm now beginning to get familiarised with it and am beginning to get a setup workflow formalised (although it still takes me about an hour to get it all setup and balanced :p)

I can certainly empathise with you about houses being in the way though - For me, Orion is one of THE prime targets in the night sky and I'd almost given up getting it from the back garden... but if I can somehow get a few hours more subs over the next 3 weeks to add to this, I'll be well chuffed... :(

Digz - Yes, It is a Canon ("astronomised" 40D with a baader filter replacement). I have to admit that since buying the NEQ6/MN190 in early December, my main goal has been to capture the HH, but due to the poor weather in December and January, I had to wait for first light imaging with the MN190... and sadly when I finally got the chance it was a full moon, so I'm fairly satisfied to have got this version in the bag from the back garden this year. However, I do wish I could somehow get rid of that pink halo... :)

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AndyUK

AndyUK

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Well thank you.... and Jeez - You were up early, or late, for a cloudy night!

I would have loved to have tried to get some more subs on Sunday night, but as is frequently the case, work dragged me up to Leeds... and as someone on here once told me, yet again the old addage of clear skies being directly inversely proportional to the distance from your telescope came true :o

I've had a play some more with what I have and come up with a version where I've savaged Alnitak with the clone tool, but I'm not sure it looks right - I wanted to try and keep the companion star on the left, but I think I've probably gone too far... f I could put a nice big star spike or something on it, I think it would look better, but oh well..

Aside from getting more subs, I'd like to try taking another set of shorter subs (with a toned down Alnitak) and then composite the two, but with the waxing moon, cloud and clocks going forward soon, I think that will have to wait a few months :(

post-18819-133877546631_thumb.jpg

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AndyUK

AndyUK

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... unfortunately RIP Alnitak
Yes... Perhaps I'm the first to capture it heading into its white dwarf phase... :)

I got a trial of Star Spikes Pro to see if that would do anything, but sadly it doesn't recognise it as a star any more (and I don't have the "manual" skills to create one myself). Ho hum - If we do somehow get a clear night over the next 10 days, I just might be able to get the short exp frames and can try and bring it back in again...

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AndyUK

AndyUK

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Aha... I fooled it by putting a small white feathered "blob" in the middle, selecting it with the magic wand and then ran star spikes pro - That seems to have done the trick... :)

(I'm not sure I'm totally convinced that star spikes pro is totally worth the money though - I guess it's an aquired taste and can easily be overdone... I also understand there's a new version coming out soon, so I'll save my money for now and see what's included in that - Sorry they don't do it for Mac though... Our office has one and the screen is awesome!)

post-18819-13387754688_thumb.jpg

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AndyUK

AndyUK

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Pinch fix... Damn... Olly mentioned that in a previous thread... I've just sort of tried it out - Am I right in thinking it only works in 8 bit mode?

It look as though I'm going to have to give this yet another reprocessing, but never mind - Not much else to do on cloudy nights... (and sadly there's a few of those forecast :))

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Psychobilly

Psychobilly

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You can also "touch up" stars using a soft edge brush of an "appropriate" size (thats what I did to recreate Alnitak) or copy and paste a suitable one from elsewhere in the image...

If your worried about losing the companion star one method is to work on a duplicate layer and use the eraser to let it show through fromthe original...

Peter...

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carastro

carastro

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Lovely image, you're really coming on Andy

I applied a composite layer mask to get Alnitak as small
and you're getting to grips with the post-processing, although I think you need to find a better method than your 2nd attempt at Alnitak.

I am trying to recall what I was advised to do with Alnitak and it was something to do with putting a circular marquee around the star, feathering and reducing the size somehow - now was this edit transform, or was it pinch, can't quite remember, but there are many ways of skinning a cat, but I don't think the clone tool is the right one for this job.

Keep them coming.

Carole

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AndyUK

AndyUK

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Cheers Peter, Anna, Carol for the advice and options - Obviously quite a few ways to skin this one! Another rework is obviously in order... I've made a note of all of them and will give them all a go to see which one I can get on the best with... but one thing I think I do now know is that heavy-handed cloning is certainly NOT the solution!

(I just wish I could get just one more night at this though, even if I have to get out into the countryside.... :))

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