M42 Reprocess in Startools

[Startrek (Martin)]

Not much happening in the way of imaging due to the east coast copping a drenching and it doesn’t look like it going to clear for a while yet
Here’s a reprocess of M42 I captured nearly 2 weeks ago with the new 2600MC OSC camera and only 6 x 180 sec subs under Bortle 8 Sydney skies
Startools V1.6
Compose colour module
Synthetic Luminance and Synthetic Blend of blue and green (should try a red blue blend too )
Also Crop versions to zoom in on the detail around the core areas and the Trap

Comments Welcome

Thanks

[Startrek (Martin)]

I forgot to mention that I didn’t use any Layering with short subs to expose the Trap. The 2600MC set on Highest Dynamic Range produced 180sec subs with the Trap well defined and exposed ( core area did not blow out at all ) This camera and the Duoband filter is unbelievable !!!
I reckon I could push 5 or 6 minute subs and still expose the core and trap

[Mickoid (Michael)]

Martin, that's a really nice shot of M42, lovely detail with such a short integration time under Bortle 8 skies. Before I read your extra info in the next post, I was going to say what a great job you'd done in taming the core. That camera's HDR function is certainly perfect for this object and you've taken full advantage of using it correctly to achieve a result which would have been hard to replicate manually. Well done and thanks for showing us that with the right filters in place, how good this camera is.

[Zuts]

That's a fantastic amount of details for 6 by 180 sec subs, especially considering they are crops.

This wet weather is no good for what we want to do. I am thinking of going to Broken Hill or even Cameron Corner over XMAS break, I will be very disappointed if the clouds followed me there ....

Paul

[Fernando]

Martin, impressive for only 6 x 180 sec subs under Bortle 8 skies!

[Robert_T]

Originally Posted by Startrek

I forgot to mention that I didn’t use any Layering with short subs to expose the Trap. The 2600MC set on Highest Dynamic Range produced 180sec subs with the Trap well defined and exposed ( core area did not blow out at all ) This camera and the Duoband filter is unbelievable !!!
I reckon I could push 5 or 6 minute subs and still expose the core and trap

Aw Martin, you are going to end up costing me money with talk like that... already eyeing the QHY equivalent (268c) that uses this sensor!

Interested in trying Startools for Duoband processing of OSC. Currently giving APP a go and when it works its great separating out Ha and OIII and recombine but a little slow and clunky and let down by silly annoying stuff like not remembering working directories etc (something users have been asking for for 3 years now.... its coming apparently). Any view of Startools?

[multiweb (Marc)]

Superb shots Martin. Sub zero cool. Detail galore.

[Startrek (Martin)]

Thanks All
Appreciate the kind comments

Robert,
Startools is unlike other processing software as it doesn’t use any histograms,curves or graphs to learn for adjusting various parameters
It’s simple to use, very powerful and cleans up really noisy data to leave good clean signal to work with
It tracks everything as you go along , you can go back and forth , the controls are simple to use sliders
I started with V1.4 nearly 4 years ago and now I’m running V1.6 which is fantastic. V1.7 is available now which is even better
The Compose module is great for OSC NB data
Give it a trial !!
NB: One caveat, you do need a beefy processor with plenty of Ram for it to do its thing in a timely manner

Martin

[xelasnave]

Wow Martin that is about as good as it gets, fantastic..the six inch Newtonian no doubt.

Can you qualify "beefy processor" and " plenty of RAM" please.

I waver between this camera and another narrow band and each time I see your work I lean to the one shot...do I need a filter given my dark location?...I have the order form filled in sitting on my tablet..maybe tomorrow...the lawn mower can wait
Alex

[Startrek (Martin)]

Originally Posted by xelasnave

Wow Martin that is about as good as it gets, fantastic..the six inch Newtonian no doubt.

Can you qualify "beefy processor" and " plenty of RAM" please.

I waver between this camera and another narrow band and each time I see your work I lean to the one shot...do I need a filter given my dark location?...I have the order form filled in sitting on my tablet..maybe tomorrow...the lawn mower can wait
Alex

Alex
Yes M42 was captured with my Bintel GSO 6” f6 newt

As far as Startools and processing, I use a beast of a laptop HP Omen i7 series 8 processor with 32GB ram which handles Startools easily ( no time lag at all ) obviously a lesser powerful machine will lag a bit longer, and a standard machine like an i5 with less than 8GB ram will lag too long

At my semi dark site location on the South Coast , I only use the ZWO Duoband filter during the moon phase ( say 25% waxing to 25% waning ) and it’s only used on planetary and emission nebula, not used on globular clusters or galaxies

Cheers
Martin