You just have to have a funny name for an old favorite
I don't get tired of this object and during the shoot between the clouds it was my fall back ..did want a Lobster for Easter but I only managed more common fare but it is an object that one should not take for granted.
Still not a proper image in so far as exposure times on the lastest data was a minute and the earlier data from February was all 30 seconds...gain was way past what one should use (up to 450 and nothing under 250 from recollection) and no darks or flats or darks for the flats that I never took
Probably 3 hours stacked.
Managed something from all channels but again not done the right way as I was getting what I could when I could...managed many Sii and I was happy with that stack even though short exposure and high gain...I thank the camera for being so forgiving.
Anyways took two nights and two days to stack..and the first completed stack and startools processed subs had to be thrown out cause I mucked up alignment proceedures
and it took me from 3 yesterday till 2 am to run everything through startools and photoshop. Left me tired as I slept in until 11 am
Managed a better approach to colour doing it more or less the right way but must say I did colour in bits..I tried to be absolutely minimalistic with colour..maybe too much so...and probably used the burn tool a bit too much as you can tell if you rev the image up
and I did colour in some stars in an effort to lift the image because it just seemed flat to me...put some nice round coloured in stars in the corners for those who like to look at the corners..I know I do.
Turned the saturation way way down and then turned it down some more so it will be interesting to see what it looks like here. The image looks flat but I just cant make it pop even with all my little tricks.
Lots to improve upon but one thing I must say ..Startools does an incredible job of fixing oval stars.just unbelievable.. I nearly threw out the Feb data cause the stars were like footballs but Startools did a magic job via the repair function...also I don't know what others think but the noise is way better than I could do only 12 months ago..thanks to Startools..no preplanned dither but data was from three different nights and two of those nights was with poor tracking...soooo.....I badly need to adjust the scope either distance to sensor or tilt is a grave issue but heck after a fix in star tools it can wait
I submit two photos one hopefully is ok as not too saturation the other I liked but suspect when it is up it will be crazy saturation.
Overall I am very happy with the set up that produced this and rather surprised the detail for such a small scope.
Set up..Espirt 80mm with 2.5 foot baffeled dew tube ( a life saver given the dew and fog and to help exclude those little garden lights
), ZWO Mono cooled camera(minus 15 degrees) with R,B,G,Lum,Oii,Sii,Ha filters, Magic HEQ5aligned with polemaster, Orion guide scope and ZWO Camera was not used to guide but heck it looks great on the scope...120 amp hour 12 volt battery charged via 120 watt solar panel with built in regulator, 200 watt inverter,short extention lead running into a 5 point 240 power outlet, little power hungry Lappy with a throw over silver dew cover, small picnic table( four legs each of which reach the ground) and cane garden chair also with four legs..focus via manually controlled electric focuser using a bat mask...and I could not have done any of it without my trusty little head lamp and blacked out walking stick.
Thanks for taking the time to read this far.
alex
