Dire Traits

[mickw]

At last the results from the self inflicted guiding course at Rother Valley...................
All with Burgess Optical 91 APO, modded Canon 400D, HEQ5 Pro, Guided (or not) QHY5 on 50mm finderscope
All captured and stacked in Nebulosity - no darks, flats or bias to any due to cranky file formats, levels and curves CS3
Nothing too special

M44 - 15x180sec 800 asa - unguided (forgot to turn it on)


Leo Triplet - 5x240sec 800 asa - guided (forgot to turn guiding on for the first 15 so deleted them)


This is where I start sulking because if I had proper files and could do proper processing, I think these last two would be good.

M81, M82 and NGC3077 - 10x360sec 800asa - guided - woohoo


M42 etc. - 4x180sec 800 asa unguided (forgot to turn guiding on on so the other 6 subs rubbish)

[JohnP]

Excellent Mick - Seems like you are getting there - guiding/ processing etc. Your m81, m82 looks fantastic - A really nice widefield shot with lots of filaments showing in 82. Well done you must be chuffed. Are you only using a 50mm lens for guiding - this seems very short?

John

[mickw]

Cheers John, yep chuffed but could have been so much better with proper file formats.

Sorry, should have read 50mm guidescope, probably about 160mm fl - will measure it.

[Mike]

Well it's a start Mick, and a good one. Just need to remember that guiding.

The processing is the hard part and getting a decent image from your raw files is probably about 75% of the work towards creating a decent image.

[mickw]

Thanks Mike, I agree about the processing and hopefully it'll get easier when I start getting some manageable data - hopefully next time out 

[Fay]

Gosh Mick, you have done so well, no wonder you are pleased. You have the basics there & lots of detail in M82!!!!! The only way is up!!

[RobertM]

A really excellent start Mick and great images, you must be really thrilled with the results.  The guiding, especially in the first two, looks pixel perfect.

Better quality subs will make post processing so much easier!

Theres no stopping you now

Robert

[mickw]

Thanks, I'm pleased that I survived the first guiding relatively unscathed although there's room for improvement.

I'm surprised I got away with M42 and M44 unguided (forgot to turn it on), pushing it a bit at 3 mins so I had to ditch a few subs.
Also amazed at the detail I got out of M42 with so few subs - Must admit I was clueless about the need for different length subs on this 

Gutted with M81 because I think there's a load of potential there if I could have used the darks, flats and bias

[The Thing]

Well done Mick! I think you've done an amazing job with these images. I never was able to process subs I got with nebulosity and gave up on it.
You could still apply darks and bias frames, it's the flats you really have to remember. That's why I tend to leave my dslr on the scope when I pack up!

[mickw]

Cheers Duncan, big problem is that the flats, darks, bias from the reconstructed Neb. "Raws" does weird and wonderful things with the black/white points and DSS won't touch them.

Still the main thing is I'm confident with guiding now (famous last words) although a really good image would have been nice.

Anyway, I'm going to give APT a shot possibly tonight - under the orange skies of home 

[MarkS]

Nice one Mick!

This proves you've got the basics working well.  I like the M81/M82 image especially - it's well captured and nicely processed.  One whole hour of data - is that your current record?

All in all, you should be pretty pleased with that bunch.  I recommend you try something like the Dumbbell Nebula or the North American - although at this time of year that would mean a pretty late night.  The May DSC maybe?

Mark

[mickw]

Thanks Mark, yes I like M81 as well, it was the first "proper" image I ever took last year - I'll also be having another go at it 
I actually captured another 7x240 subs but I don't see the mileage in adding them in if I can't process it properly without the flats etc.
Leo Trip had 20x240 but I only turned the guiding on for the last 5 

Yes, N.A. was on the list but not high enough, hadn't thought of the dumbell - Not long untill May 

[Carole]

Well done Mick, several more steps up the ladder. 

I am not sure why Nebulosity is causing problems, but this sounds like a good move:

Frustrating to be getting good data and then not being able to use it to it's full potential.

Carole

[mickw]

I've had another crack at Leo Triplet stretching individual subs before applying darks, flats and bias then stacking, unfortunately only 4 useable subs out of 20 - Not perfect but at least its got pretty colours 

[Fay]

You should calibrate first before processing, Mick. Doing well though   

[The Thing]

That's starting to look very nice Mick.  It's going to be clear again tonight , maybe you can get some more subs. I am jealous of the FoV, I can only get two of them in an image at a time!

[mickw]

Thanks I'm a bit happier with the result now I've found I can use what I have done.  I'll definitely revisit the others.

I've not knowingly done "calibration" before, I just slap lights, darks, flats etc together then tinker in Photoshop 
What should I have been doing or what is done in calibration ?

Duncan unfortunately South is where kitchen lights go on at random, I don't stand a chance until after midnight when the good stuff usually disappears behind houses or the full moon pops up 
I am set up though and prepared for a attack of North

[Fay]

yes put them all together before processing

[mickw]

yes put them all together before processing

Blimey, I was doing something right 

The reason I tried the stretch before stacking was that stacking pushed the black and white points all over the place.  The histogram showed the black being clipped to maximum, doubt whether that's the right description but the histogram did not slope, it was vertical and only sloped down to half height on the right.

[Fay]

Once you use levels in PS the histogram will look better