Popular Post Vicki Posted April 30, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted April 30, 2021 MY NEMESIS!! Jeez, this 3.5 hours of data has given me so much grief. First galaxy with the 269c pro TEC and I'm impressed, given how far away it actually is!! Have been troubleshooting for around a week! Bad flats, bad darks, light leaks, software problems, old snail's pace laptop causing issues. Nearly gave up. I didn't, so here is Messier 101 aka The Pinwheel Galaxy 🙂 Stacked in DSS, stretched and LP removal in APP and then Photoshop. 37x180s 26x240s plus darks and flats. I could've pushed the subs to 300s though. Skywatcher 72ED, 0.8 reducer/flattener, 269c pro TEC Starwave 50mm and GPCAM2 290c 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter shah Posted April 30, 2021 Share Posted April 30, 2021 Its no fun if you don't have a fight with the kit....great result 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vicki Posted April 30, 2021 Author Share Posted April 30, 2021 6 minutes ago, AstroStew said: Great image, but why would you stack in DSS when you have APP, it’s far far superior for stacking and calibration...?? Yes, I agree completely. Sadly, my laptop hasn't much ram or processing power so its starting to dislike and struggle a lot with APP now. I know I've probably lost a bit of the pizazz in the image but I can only work with what I have for now. Certainly can't afford a new laptop but will look into more ram at some point 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vicki Posted April 30, 2021 Author Share Posted April 30, 2021 8 minutes ago, peter shah said: Its no fun if you don't have a fight with the kit....great result Thank you. I've not had anything like this in the 3 years I've been into astro 🤣 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carastro Posted April 30, 2021 Share Posted April 30, 2021 That's a great result Vicki, it is my Nemesis too. I have images it 2 or 3 times and never been happy with the result. I sympathise with your problems, think I have been there and done that too at times. Carole 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jkulin Posted April 30, 2021 Share Posted April 30, 2021 You have done a lovely job with that Vicki, a little hint that I find I am using more and more now and your image is crying out for it, extract a lum mask, apply it and invert it, then bump that saturation up, it will bring the colours through without ruining the background. It was my nemesis as well and I failed the first time I tried and finally managed a reasonable image about a year ago. HTH 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ribuck Posted April 30, 2021 Share Posted April 30, 2021 (edited) 2 hours ago, Vicki said: Thank you. I've not had anything like this in the 3 years I've been into astro 🤣 Hmm that all sounds very familiar..... Vicki, that's a great start, so dont loose hope as i was in the same boat, it took me a long time and did a lot of fighting to start to get some reasonable images. for a long time it felt like the Astro gods were conspiring against me and that i wasn't going to get a decent image until all the planets aligned. Never mind those dementors from harry potter, if they wanted to drive harry crazy just force him to take up Astro Imaging, and if they were particularly sadistic they would make him do it with a Fast Newtonian 🤪 Edited April 30, 2021 by ribuck 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ribuck Posted April 30, 2021 Share Posted April 30, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, Jkulin said: You have done a lovely job with that Vicki, a little hint that I find I am using more and more now and your image is crying out for it, extract a lum mask, apply it and invert it, then bump that saturation up, it will bring the colours through without ruining the background. It was my nemesis as well and I failed the first time I tried and finally managed a reasonable image about a year ago. HTH As Jkulin says above - a quick inverted mask to protect the darkness of the background and you can bump up the saturation level to bring out the colours in the stars and galaxy. I highly recommend looking into PixInsight - it's not cheap but the investment is well worth it and it has all the tools you need in one package and some very powerful tools to help bring out the detail Rich Edited April 30, 2021 by ribuck 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jkulin Posted May 1, 2021 Share Posted May 1, 2021 Yes as Rich say pixinsight really is superb, and it has taken me about 3 years to get comfortable with it, far from perfect, but my old brain isn’t as sharp as it used to be, but with a youngster like you Vicki, you’ll fly with it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulB Posted May 1, 2021 Share Posted May 1, 2021 It was hard work. But you succeeded and won. Now all you have to do is identify all the other galaxies in the picture. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vicki Posted May 2, 2021 Author Share Posted May 2, 2021 On 5/1/2021 at 7:36 AM, PaulB said: It was hard work. But you succeeded and won. Now all you have to do is identify all the other galaxies in the picture. Thank you. Yep, I wasn't gonna be beaten. Pleased with what's there 😀 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vicki Posted May 2, 2021 Author Share Posted May 2, 2021 On 5/1/2021 at 1:29 AM, Jkulin said: Yes as Rich say pixinsight really is superb, and it has taken me about 3 years to get comfortable with it, far from perfect, but my old brain isn’t as sharp as it used to be, but with a youngster like you Vicki, you’ll fly with it. Sadly, thats money I can't afford to be spending out. I will make do with what I have currently. If circumstances change, then I will get a pc 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vicki Posted May 2, 2021 Author Share Posted May 2, 2021 On 5/1/2021 at 12:27 AM, ribuck said: Hmm that all sounds very familiar..... Vicki, that's a great start, so dont loose hope as i was in the same boat, it took me a long time and did a lot of fighting to start to get some reasonable images. for a long time it felt like the Astro gods were conspiring against me and that i wasn't going to get a decent image until all the planets aligned. Never mind those dementors from harry potter, if they wanted to drive harry crazy just force him to take up Astro Imaging, and if they were particularly sadistic they would make him do it with a Fast Newtonian 🤪 Thanks. I've been ok with the processing side until I got M31, that was hard last year and then M33 was even harder but this one takes the biscuit 🤣 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vicki Posted May 2, 2021 Author Share Posted May 2, 2021 On 4/30/2021 at 11:28 PM, Jkulin said: You have done a lovely job with that Vicki, a little hint that I find I am using more and more now and your image is crying out for it, extract a lum mask, apply it and invert it, then bump that saturation up, it will bring the colours through without ruining the background. It was my nemesis as well and I failed the first time I tried and finally managed a reasonable image about a year ago. HTH But wouldn't I have to extract the lum while it's running through in APP, the same process as when I extracted Ha? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vicki Posted May 2, 2021 Author Share Posted May 2, 2021 On 4/30/2021 at 10:11 PM, Carastro said: That's a great result Vicki, it is my Nemesis too. I have images it 2 or 3 times and never been happy with the result. I sympathise with your problems, think I have been there and done that too at times. Carole Thanks Carole. I've never come up against so many software issues this time round, beyond frustrating. Still, I managed it and it'll do 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vicki Posted May 2, 2021 Author Share Posted May 2, 2021 2 hours ago, AstroStew said: If a new or secondhand more powerful laptop to run APP, is unaffordable for the OP, then Pixinsight will be out of the question too really....👍🏼 Absolutely spot on. I'm a single mum of 2 so every penny counts 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jkulin Posted May 2, 2021 Share Posted May 2, 2021 2 hours ago, Vicki said: But wouldn't I have to extract the lum while it's running through in APP, the same process as when I extracted Ha? I don't use APP Vicki, so I can't say, but if there is a facility to pull a mask from the RGB image and apply and invert, then that would help you immensely. If you want me to try for you then send my the RGB.fit file and I'll try my best for you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jkulin Posted May 2, 2021 Share Posted May 2, 2021 2 hours ago, Vicki said: Absolutely spot on. I'm a single mum of 2 so every penny counts 🙂 Yep totally agree, only too glad to help, as I said above, if you want me to pull a Lum file then only too happy to oblige. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkAR Posted May 3, 2021 Share Posted May 3, 2021 Nice result Vicki. I think anyone that hasn't threatened to put either a computer, mount, scope or their head through a brick wall cannot truly call themselves an Astrophotographer. 😂 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vicki Posted May 3, 2021 Author Share Posted May 3, 2021 1 hour ago, MarkAR said: Nice result Vicki. I think anyone that hasn't threatened to put either a computer, mount, scope or their head through a brick wall cannot truly call themselves an Astrophotographer. 😂 In a nutshell! 🥴🤣 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ribuck Posted May 3, 2021 Share Posted May 3, 2021 So Vicki, having kids have you witnessed the special phenomena that only happens on Perfect clear nights, where the kids either refuse to go to sleep, or be little Monkey's - Yet on cloudy nights they go to bed on time and are little angels. Curious to know if this Phenomena is localised to just my home or is more wide spread 🤔 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob-c Posted May 3, 2021 Share Posted May 3, 2021 A nice result Vicki,well done. Bob. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vicki Posted May 4, 2021 Author Share Posted May 4, 2021 On 5/3/2021 at 1:21 PM, ribuck said: So Vicki, having kids have you witnessed the special phenomena that only happens on Perfect clear nights, where the kids either refuse to go to sleep, or be little Monkey's - Yet on cloudy nights they go to bed on time and are little angels. Curious to know if this Phenomena is localised to just my home or is more wide spread 🤔 Sometimes I experience this, yes. Some nights I try to set up etc before the bedtime routine but because I'm rushing I end up getting flustered and make mistakes 🙈🤣 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AstronomyUkraine Posted May 4, 2021 Share Posted May 4, 2021 On 5/3/2021 at 3:21 PM, ribuck said: So Vicki, having kids have you witnessed the special phenomena that only happens on Perfect clear nights, where the kids either refuse to go to sleep, or be little Monkey's - Yet on cloudy nights they go to bed on time and are little angels. Curious to know if this Phenomena is localised to just my home or is more wide spread 🤔 I don't have kids living at home, but I have two cats who always think it's fun to play with cables hanging from the mount. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gina Posted June 19, 2021 Share Posted June 19, 2021 Well done, Vicky. Great result!! 👍👍👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.