Baby steps - or space dummy

[h0ughy]

well this is the very first image I obtained from astrofest. its very ugly, badly thrown together but in my eyes it shows promise. I used my c11 with hyperstar3 for the very first time with a celestron Nightscape one shot CCD camera. unfortunately its no DSLR so everything is in FITS format - there in lies the problem - I couldn't see the shots to screen them and remove the ones that were elongated (due I think to the 3.35 firmware on the eq8 mount) so here is the warts and all shot of 44 x 150 seconds or 1h50min with a crop. I need to develop a system for getting better flats as well. the vignetting is horrendous :question::eek::scared3:

help needed what viewer can I use to see the fits files?:help:

[multiweb]

Not bad at all. Field looks good. Little out of focus but apart from that it's alright.

[h0ughy]

thanks Marc - I did use a bahtinov mask and had it spot on (took me ages using the microtouch motor focuser - I think the main issue is the elongated stars - when I can see the FITS files and view them properly I will delete the crook ones then redo the stacking

[Rod771]

Great start Dave! Well done :thumbsup:

When you work out the flats for the hyperstar, let me know eh :P

I've been thinking about imaging with the dew shield on all the time and getting an Aurora flat field panel with some ND sheets.

Ive tried plugging the laptop into to the LCD TV and pointing the scope at it but results weren't too good. The CLS CCD filter gives me grief also with low signal in the red channel. I tried adjusting the screen colour to pink to compensate but Pixinsight throws up ugly results.

What about the Blink tool in Pixinsight, would that help in previewing the Fit files?

[multiweb]

Forgot about that one. I point the scope up and stick an A4 EL sheet. I take 20 flats, then rotate it 90 degrees, another 20, then 45 degrees, another 20, then finally 90 degrees and another 20. Stack 80 flats mean combine. If you have something big enough to cover the aperture then do it in one go but it doesn't really matter.

[h0ughy]

I was using the lightbox from my 14" meade - which meant that it was totally covered. my problem was that the Astrofx software for the nightscape camera doesn't tell you how you go about getting flats, so I was taking a series of images from 1/2 second through to 3 seconds. there is no graph to view so I had no idea what I was doing.

[Rod771]

Cool , thanks for the tip Marc. :)

:question: So the uncovered portion of the aperture doesn't result in a blown out or effected histogram?

[multiweb]

No. I do my flats in the dark before or after daylight. Mean combine averages any vignetting effect.

[multiweb]

It's hard to gauge if you can't tell the ADU level. With the hyperstar a few 100s of a second or you need to dim the sheet right down if you have a shutter like a QHY9 and need to go over 1s. Unless you do NB.

[Peter Ward]

Yep, not a great image.

The calibration, registration, guiding, focus, S/N ratio, image depth and colour balance all need some work.

Marc's suggestion of using median sky flats is a good one.

Stick with it :thumbsup:

[h0ughy]

i would have to get the scope back out and put on the hyperstar:question:

its my first ccd image ever:) and my first deep sky image since this time last year;) :sadeyes: but i can call it crud, but with a silver lining:P-at least i got out and got something:lol:

[Garbz]

What's the problem with viewing the FITS files? What software are you using to stack them? If you just look at all of them in Deep Sky Stacker then run the registration and sort them by FWHM then the elongated ones should be all bunched at the bottom where they can be unticked. Got some very deep data there so the subs should have plenty of promise.

[DJT]

A night of firsts! Not least getting to astrofest with the beast! 28000 views on that thread and still going strong. ;-)

Given you were out the field rather than snug in home territory with all new kit...

Not sure what you use for stacking but as Garbz says, if using PHD, register then review for the carp. Use sigma clipping as well as you had many subs and it would have got rid of the nasty streaky sub you had in that stack.

Congrats on first light etc

[h0ughy]

well there you go - had no idea I could use DSS. I was using the stupid celestron astrofx programme:thanx::help:

[h0ughy]

thanks David - it was a night of firsts - setting the mount up then setting the hyperstar