Orion and Running Man help needed

[PaulSthcoast (Paul)]

Hi everyone,

a break in the weather on Thursday night, (25.02.21),
allowed me to once again to take an opportunity to put some
theory into practical application.

I chose Orion, as it was the obvious target to experiment with.

This was the first time I had used my Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro mount.

I had Polar aligned, and set the mount up with EQ Mod and Stellaruim.

Note of mention, Polar alignment was achieved with the QHY Pole Master.

A huge shout of thanks to Eden, (Brett) for the Pole Master.

A big thank you to Startrek ( Martin ), for the procedures.

I was pleasantly surprised with the tracking, and am looking forward to
trying guiding when the next clear sky eventuates.

Details of the image as follows:

102mm x 500mm Skywatcher achromatic.
Canon 600D DSLR non modded.
Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro.
Field flattener.

110 x 20 second subs ISO 400 taken in APT.
Best 100 stacked in Deep Sky Stacker.

Processed in Windows 7 Live Photo Gallery.

No cropping.

Imaged under a full Moon.

No filter.

I am hoping that some advise can be given in regards to the
checkered artifacts in the bottom of the image.

Would darks help remove these ?

I have tried my hand at Startools, (trial version), but have not yet mastered the mask technique.

Would masking during processing also help remove the checked area ?

Once again,

thanks for looking.

Comments always welcomed.


Paul.

[PKay (Peter)]

Hi Paul

There are some great aspects with the result.
The nebula is bright and well resolved.

With regards to the 'line' at the bottom, have a close look at the sensor.
It might have a smear on it.

Darks would help, better to clean it.
That is only a guess.

The stars have blue halos that different processing techniques would fix.

Maybe time to look at dedicated software like Startools, or Gimp, or PI etc.
Process's like 'background extraction' and 'noise reduction' all help.

10 out of 10 for effort.

Well done!

[PaulSthcoast (Paul)]

Thanks Peter,

I was going to post this image, but really wanted
a resolve to the sensor checkering.

I'm sure you are correct in your suggestions of a
designated processing programs.

Thanks again for the compliment.

Slight crop to allow image upload.

Paul.

[Startrek (Martin)]

Paul,
Great effort there
Glad you have my old HEQ5 up and running again after a few year in hibernation
I’m assuming you stacked raw files (Cr) in DSS and not jpegs
Darks are a must with a DSLR too
Also like Peter mentioned, download Startools V1.7 and it will really help your processing even with poor data ( I can provide assistance with this software)
And yes guiding will be next on the list
Well done !!!
Cheers
Martin

[AdamJL]

Hi Paul

Your sensor line is common, especially among Canon DSLRs. I've made several threads about this on various forum

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/7...#entry10797016

^ good solution from my thread at CN

https://forum.startools.org/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=2043

^ StarTools couldn't remove it, but there was a decent output from my thread at ST

https://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/...d.php?t=188895

^ My local thread, where I managed to clean it up by NOT using Bias frames and making sure I take a lot (a lot) of lights to swamp the signal

Good luck. I have resolved to use this year to learn as much as I can before biting the bullet and getting a dedicated astro-camera, because DSLRs just have too many compromises (for me).

[PaulSthcoast (Paul)]

Thanks Martin,

yes I will be looking at investing in a designated processing program such as Startools in the near future.

Thanks for the offer of help, I will keep you updated when it happens.

Adam, thanks for the links, they were quite helpful.

This is my first image taken with the 600D.

I`m sure a library of darks and flats will be of benefit

I noticed the band became more prominent when I changed
the hue to purple.

You can see the variation between the two images.

Same image, same program, different processing technique.

The banding is still there but less apparent in the second image.

I am interested to see what may appear when using a higher ISO and longer exposures.

I`m not fazed, it`s just another facet of the hobby to make it more interesting !!


Paul.