A frustrating work in progress - NGC 6822

[marc4darkskies]

Life can be a b1tch sometimes!! :mad2: Last lunar cycle the weather sucked the whole time. This cycle not much better but several still, moonless nights (with fantastic seeing) presented themselves. Of course, for the first time EVER my Laptop failed to run my software properly (CCDAP orchestrating TheSkyX). The attached error keeps being thrown just before writing the image file to disk. Arrgh!! No solution yet. To my knowledge nothing has changed on my lappy since my last successful sessions in July ... but obviously something has! :sadeyes:

The good news is I did manage to add a little more Lum data (1.75 hrs) to my meagre 2014 (Grose Vale) NGC6822 data. Total now is 6.67 hours (16x15 Lum + 8x20 Ha). The sky here is much darker than Gross Vale so the IFN has really started to pop. MUCH more data needed of course but that will have to wait until I fix my problems ... and probably till next year because it's late season for 6822. At least I have something to show for my frustrations!!

Note the abundant IFN in the frame.

Screen sized version here (https://pbase.com/gailmarc/image/157224548/original). (No full res until I finish it ... eventually!)

UPDATE 22 Sep: Problem fixed after doing a system restore. Added another hour of lum (total now 20x15 Lum + 8x20 Ha). Completely reprocessed. Updated images (Normal on left, exaggerated on right to show IFN more clearly.

[Andy01]

This is looking good - will be well worth the wait when done. :)

Having also been through collimation & tilt hell this season, I know how truly frustrating and rewarding this hobby can be sometimes when sh#t doesn't go according to plan!

Hang in there Marcus, all these niggles are eventually solvable! :D

[Atmos]

That’s an awful lot of IFN there Marcus! I’ve attempted this once with a 5” refractor and it’s a pretty faint sucker.

[DavidTrap]

I reckon you need to give Voyager a go - very impressed with my trial thus far!

DT

[gregbradley]

Looking good Marcus. I lost 2 and half really good nights at my dark site because my autoguiding setup suddenly would not work.

Astro is like that.

Have you recently done a windows update? I lost data a few times because I had windows update set to 3am and it interrupted an imaging run.

Greg.

[Placidus]

That's the DEEPEST Barnard's Gx We've ever seen.

[Ryderscope]

Gee whiz, a lot lurking in there. The effort has been worth while.

[h0ughy]

Teasing

As for the computer some recent updates have been a PITA . It just has to be a small change somewhere in your process setting up.

It looks like an interesting project

[multiweb]

Looks excellent. The final will be a corker. :thumbsup:
PCs are a love/hate relationship. Can't do without them though.

[strongmanmike]

Looking pretty good there so far Marcus :thumbsup:

There is indeed a lot of galactic cirrus/molecular dust (https://www.flickr.com/photos/strongman/48502927066/) in that region!

Mike

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks Andy. I've done a system restore to before my last imaging session in July. Not tested yet but fingers are crossed.



Thanks Colin. Most renditions don't show the IFN - with a couple of notable exceptions. Even my Grose Vale data (NW Sydney) was starting to show it. Another 5 or so hours of Lum in Bortle 2 skies should really make it pop!



CCDAP/TSX has been very stable for umpteen years so I won't be changing. It's more than likely a windows update (that I don't remember doing) changed something. Never a again though!!



Thanks Greg! Suspecting a Win update. We'll see if my system restore (back to before my last session in July) does the trick



Thanks very much M&T!



Thanks Rodney! Much more work to do on it but it's coming along nicely I think.



Cheers Houghy! I've never had an issue like this on my Obs lappy but I very rarely do a Win update on it. Hopefully the system restore works.



Cheers Marc. I'm excited about how it will eventually turn out - but it will probably be next season before it's finished.



Thanks mate! The difference in darkness between Grose Vale (Bortle 4) and here (Bortle 2) is amazing. So much more contrasty! Loving it!

[DavidTrap]

Never say never Marcus,

Voyager seems to take all of the good bits from the various programs and roll them into one package - most of the processes are still the same names.

DT

[Atmos]

This is a total integration of 1.8 hours, it doesn't take much to capture the IFN under dark skies but it does take a lot to get it as buttery smooth as yours! A good combination of aperture and integration. Going from Bortle 4 to Bortle 2 would make a pretty big difference too :)

[strongmanmike]

Yes I remember imaging from Wiruna made a big difference, apart from the increased contrast and thus S/N improvement, gradient removal is a thing of the past too...I look forward to soon having such skies again but right outside my back door :party: :prey:

Mike

[marc4darkskies]

Hehe ... I was only saying "never" to doing a windows updates on my Obs lappy. But I'm glad you're enjoying Voyager so much David!



Not bad Colin! Yes, the IFN is not hard to render in darker skies and I'm lucky to have them now. It still needs lots of data though!



I wish my skies were 0.04 mag/sq arcsec darker though! :P;):lol:

[strongmanmike]

Ah yes but...like the 100m in Athletics, that's a full Usain Bolt stride in front at the finish line ;) :lol: