Lagoon Nebula

[paul71 (Paul.)]

Hi all
This is 1 hr of data with the new zwo294mc pro still learning how to use all the settings and controls but happy so far with the results.
Gear used was Eq6r
skywatcher Bd Ed 80
Phd Guiding
Dss and Startools.
Still need to work on processing as this is the first image done with Startools.
Any feedback on improvements would be great.

[Mickoid (Michael)]

You have reason to be happy with that Paul. You are learning to use the controls as you say and are doing a good job of it. That's a nice shot of this classic nebula and you have captured it well by giving it a natural look with good star colour and processing which is not over saturated. I like it!

[Startrek (Martin)]

Paul
That’s a great result, especially your first using Startools
Lots of detail and good colour balance
Startools has so many features and you always get a reasonable result
I’ve been using it for just over a year and keep discovering useful things to improve my processing , even with crappy data
Good work !!

[xelasnave]

That is a great first effort even a second or third effort. Stick with the startools learning curve as it gets better and better.
I don't know if you have tried the "repair" tool. You use it after you complete the final noise reduction..I get various results but you may find it makes your stars a little better...also do try "drizzle" in deepskystacker..I have only used it once but what a surprise. The output files are huge and things go slower but I do think it works.
Alex

[paul71 (Paul.)]

Thanks Michael,Martin and Alex yes Startools is a great software program
I just need to get more time in on it to fully understand it and get better images.
I also think more data is a must as 1hr just doesn't seem to be enough to catch the real intricate details of the Lagoon Nebula.
Cheers.

[The_bluester (Paul)]

One thing I would suggest (I use the same camera with an ED72) is that they seem to benefit massively from a UV-IR cut filter. You will very likely get smaller stars, better colours and fewer reflection problems to chase. Unfortunately I can't show you a before and after on the Lagoon and triffid image I did recently. The filter made so much of a difference to mine that I dumped all the pre filter data!


What settings are you using with the camera? I have been finding 5 minutes at 120 gain pretty good, though with the new filter i need to spend a night to see what it will stand up to again.

[paul71 (Paul.)]

Hi Paul and thanks for the info regarding the uv/ir filter.
I have been trying to find a good quality filter but most of the big dealers are out of stock and waiting to get some in so in the meantime looks like I'll have to wait.
As far as gain goes the image was done with 30@120 second exposures at 120 gain.
Next time I set up I will play around with different gain and exposure times to see what results I get but so far I am very impressed with the 294mc Pro.
Cheers.

[The_bluester (Paul)]

I managed to track down a before and after photo with my kit. I see similar issues with my SCT so eventually I will get a filter for that too. This is Antares (the brightest stars show the reflections where dimmer ones generally just look bloated.

On fields without really bright stars mine looked similar to yours and the longer you made the sub, the more pronounced it became.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Originally Posted by The_bluester

I managed to track down a before and after photo with my kit. I see similar issues with my SCT so eventually I will get a filter for that too. This is Antares (the brightest stars show the reflections where dimmer ones generally just look bloated.

On fields without really bright stars mine looked similar to yours and the longer you made the sub, the more pronounced it became.

Dont' sweat it. Doesn't matter the scope, even high end. There are a few problem stars, Antares, Alnitak to name a few. You can't do much about reflections, in and off the field. The only mitigation is to offset or image the same field on each side of the meridian and hopefully reflections will reject during stacking.

[The_bluester (Paul)]

With the filter I am more or less down to a little soap bubble reflection on the brightest stars rather than that huge blob that Antares became so I am not chasing it any further. I just use really aggressive dithering to give it the best chance of being de emphasised in integration rather than being made worse.

[rcheshire (Rowland)]

Nice job Paul.