PeterBolt Posted August 30, 2021 Share Posted August 30, 2021 (edited) Here's my first attempt at processing the data I collected over 5 nights during last weeks full moon. I found it difficult to bring out the colour and detail of the galaxy without blowing the stars. Exposure: 10.25 hours of 180s subs Scope: Helios 200P with Skywatch Coma Corrector Camera: Canon EOS 1000D (modified) Filter: Skytech L Pro Max Mount: Celestron AVX Capture: NINA Processing: Deep Sky Stacker and Photoshop Reprocessed to increase detail in the cluster and Galaxy: Edited September 5, 2021 by PeterBolt 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Padraic M Posted August 30, 2021 Share Posted August 30, 2021 That's very nice Peter, the colours are beautiful. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterBolt Posted August 30, 2021 Author Share Posted August 30, 2021 (edited) 10 minutes ago, Padraic M said: That's very nice Peter, the colours are beautiful. Thank you 👍 Edited August 30, 2021 by PeterBolt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AstronomyUkraine Posted August 30, 2021 Share Posted August 30, 2021 1 hour ago, PeterBolt said: Here's my first attempt at processing the data I collected over 5 nights during last weeks full moon. I found it difficult to bring out the colour and detail of the galaxy without blowing the stars. Looking good. Starnet++ will help with the galaxy, there is a standalone version available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterBolt Posted August 30, 2021 Author Share Posted August 30, 2021 8 minutes ago, AstronomyUkraine said: Looking good. Starnet++ will help with the galaxy, there is a standalone version available. Oh thanks I've not heard of that one I will take a look👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AstronomyUkraine Posted August 30, 2021 Share Posted August 30, 2021 7 minutes ago, PeterBolt said: Oh thanks I've not heard of that one I will take a look👍 It removes the stars while you work on the galaxy or nebula. Then you can reintroduce the stars later in the process. Make sure you check the box, "make star mask", or you will just be left with an image with no stars in it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterBolt Posted August 30, 2021 Author Share Posted August 30, 2021 7 minutes ago, AstronomyUkraine said: It removes the stars while you work on the galaxy or nebula. Then you can reintroduce the stars later in the process. Make sure you check the box, "make star mask", or you will just be left with an image with no stars in it. Brilliant thanks again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterBolt Posted August 31, 2021 Author Share Posted August 31, 2021 23 hours ago, AstronomyUkraine said: It removes the stars while you work on the galaxy or nebula. Then you can reintroduce the stars later in the process. Make sure you check the box, "make star mask", or you will just be left with an image with no stars in it. I've had a quick play with starnet++ but it removes everything leaving including the galaxy...any ideas? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Padraic M Posted August 31, 2021 Share Posted August 31, 2021 I just use the basic command line parameters - "rgb_starnet++ xxx.tif" or "mono_starnet++ xxx.tif" depending on colour or mono. Input file has to be 16-bit tiff (it will complain if it's not) and it will write starless.tif out. I don't change any of the default parameters. The input file can be lightly stretched or fully stretched - a light stretch can be useful to extract good RGB stars to add back to a fully-stretched galaxy or nebula. If you feed in a linear un-stretched file it generally will not work. Starless: Stars: The blotches in the starless image are left behind by particularly big stars, and need to be processed out by the clone tool or the heal tool. It can be a pain but it's usually worth it. Sometimes it just doesn't work with a particular image. I just get starnet to produce the starless version, then I subtract that in Gimp from the original to get the stars. I haven't used starnet to generate a star mask - must experiment with that. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AstronomyUkraine Posted August 31, 2021 Share Posted August 31, 2021 2 hours ago, PeterBolt said: I've had a quick play with starnet++ but it removes everything leaving including the galaxy...any ideas? I use the version integrated with Pixinsight. The standalone version might be different. With the integrated version you can extract just a starless image, or the starless image and the stars. The stars can then be reintegrated later in the process. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AstronomyUkraine Posted August 31, 2021 Share Posted August 31, 2021 25 minutes ago, Padraic M said: I just get starnet to produce the starless version, then I subtract that in Gimp from the original to get the stars. I haven't used starnet to generate a star mask - must experiment with that. The star mask generated by Starnet is just the name they give to the image that the contains the stars. It can be used as a star mask, but is usually just added back into the starless image after colour correction etc. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg M Posted August 31, 2021 Share Posted August 31, 2021 Beautiful image Peter. Congrats. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted August 31, 2021 Share Posted August 31, 2021 From memory I don’t believe the standalone version of Starnet++ will create a star mask. It just removes the stars leaving a starless image. You can specify input file, output file (starless) and the stride. Of course the PI version creates an optional star mask too. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterBolt Posted August 31, 2021 Author Share Posted August 31, 2021 1 hour ago, Greg M said: Beautiful image Peter. Congrats. Thanks 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterBolt Posted August 31, 2021 Author Share Posted August 31, 2021 2 hours ago, Padraic M said: I just use the basic command line parameters - "rgb_starnet++ xxx.tif" or "mono_starnet++ xxx.tif" depending on colour or mono. Input file has to be 16-bit tiff (it will complain if it's not) and it will write starless.tif out. I don't change any of the default parameters. The input file can be lightly stretched or fully stretched - a light stretch can be useful to extract good RGB stars to add back to a fully-stretched galaxy or nebula. If you feed in a linear un-stretched file it generally will not work. Starless: Stars: The blotches in the starless image are left behind by particularly big stars, and need to be processed out by the clone tool or the heal tool. It can be a pain but it's usually worth it. Sometimes it just doesn't work with a particular image. I just get starnet to produce the starless version, then I subtract that in Gimp from the original to get the stars. I haven't used starnet to generate a star mask - must experiment with that. Ok thanks looks like I just need to do a bit of experimenting 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted August 31, 2021 Share Posted August 31, 2021 I’ve not tried it but some people say you can drag and drop the tif straight onto the starnet.exe file and it will produce the starless image in the same directory as the exe 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterBolt Posted August 31, 2021 Author Share Posted August 31, 2021 (edited) 13 minutes ago, TerryMcK said: I’ve not tried it but some people say you can drag and drop the tif straight onto the starnet.exe file and it will produce the starless image in the same directory as the exe I downloaded the stand alone version and verified it worked with the sample image they provided. But when I tried it on my image it removed everything in the image so I was left with just a black background. I will have another try tomorrow 😃 Edited August 31, 2021 by PeterBolt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted August 31, 2021 Share Posted August 31, 2021 Did you do it on a stretched image Peter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterBolt Posted August 31, 2021 Author Share Posted August 31, 2021 39 minutes ago, TerryMcK said: Did you do it on a stretched image Peter? I think that's the first thing I need to check tomorrow 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AstronomyUkraine Posted August 31, 2021 Share Posted August 31, 2021 10 minutes ago, PeterBolt said: I think that's the first thing I need to check tomorrow 👍 If you forget to stretch like I have done on many occasions, you will get a result like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterBolt Posted August 31, 2021 Author Share Posted August 31, 2021 (edited) 6 minutes ago, AstronomyUkraine said: If you forget to stretch like I have done on many occasions, you will get a result like this. Looks like Tetris 🤣 Edited August 31, 2021 by PeterBolt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AstronomyUkraine Posted August 31, 2021 Share Posted August 31, 2021 5 minutes ago, PeterBolt said: Looks like Tetris 🤣 Yeah. Luckily it's an easy fix. 😁 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterBolt Posted September 1, 2021 Author Share Posted September 1, 2021 (edited) I've tried starnett++ on the stretched image but it still removes everything even the galaxy 🤔 I did try to reprocess the image using the star tools action set. Including the 'make stars smaller action'. I think the galaxy has a bit more definition to it now. Edited September 3, 2021 by PeterBolt 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkAR Posted September 4, 2021 Share Posted September 4, 2021 Well done Peter, a lovely image. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterBolt Posted September 5, 2021 Author Share Posted September 5, 2021 10 hours ago, MarkAR said: Well done Peter, a lovely image. Thanks 😃 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.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.