Scorpius

[lazjen]

I did this image of the Milky Way / Scorpius region a couple months ago now. It was my first attempt using a new piece of gear - a special controller focuser (Astromechanics) that allowed me to hook up my ZWO ASI2600MM + Filters to a Canon Lens (40mm in this case).

This combination allowed me to take my exposures at a well control temperature (-10C) and then match them to appropriate dark images for processing. Much better than trying to do it with a DSLR.

Another advantage of the focuser was the electronic control. I used INDI - kstars/ekos and the auto-focusing routine worked brilliantly.

Details
Scorpius Constellation
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MM
Lens: Canon 40mm

All frames were 120 sec, Gain 0, Offset 20 at -10C, unguided, on iOptron CEM120EC2, taken over 2 nights: June 04 2021 and June 06 2021

Filters: Baader 36mm
R x 65 (mix F2.8 and F4)
G x 56 (mix F2.8 and F4)
B x 63 (F4 - had to throw out all F2.8 due to "bloating" in stars - lens wasn't capable enough for this)

Total integration: 6hrs 8mins

Focuser: Astromechanics Canon Lens Controller Mk2

Captured using Kstars/Ekos/Indi and processed in PixInsight.

280790

Full size: https://imgur.com/gallery/VO7jGLE

[multiweb]

Looks great. Beautiful colors. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

A very nice natural looking wide field Milky Way shot there Chris :thumbsup:

The new kit sounds great too, should provide hours of fun to the user :)

Mike

[lazjen]

Thanks Marc and Mike. It does open up a few more options with some of my other lenses as well - in both directions - wider and narrower fov.

[Placidus]

The little tiny ink-blots of dust at the end of thin streamers look wonderful. Great colour too.

[lazjen]

Thanks Mike and Trish - I've been getting used to using the PhotometricColorCalibration in PixInsight which does seem to do a good job on the colours.

[gregbradley]

A bit of a green cast there. Possibly from airglow. SCNR in PI will get rid of it and it will enhance the overall colours as well.

Greg.

[lazjen]

I'm not generally a fan of using SCNR. However, I gave it a go on the original (it's actually larger than what I posted on imgur). I had to blink back and forth several times to note the difference.

Maybe the resampling/compression makes it more apparent? I should keep that in mind when I do those steps to check things more.

[Ryderscope]

A lovely field Chris and well presented. Good to see another user of the Astromechanics adapter as well.

[lazjen]

I saw your post. With a ASI6200 you're going to have more "fun" getting it just right, but the rewards should be excellent when it all works out.

[ozstronomer]

Great image Chris, love that FOV

Looks like the focuser is doing a good job :thumbsup:

Cheers Geoff

[gregbradley]

I use HALVG plugin for Photoshop. SCNR is the Pix Insight equivalent but I think it does other colours as well. PI tools are generally complex so I can't advise on what the best settings are.

With HLAVG it worked well and removed a slight green cast that runs diagonally up from the middle bottom to up above Rho Oph.

I find wide images (and even deep sky images) often have a green cast. Having done a lot of nightscapes I often see air glow in nightscape images. Sometimes it can be very green. I remember one night there must have been a solar storm because the sky was super green and it showed up very vividly in a nightscape type exposure.

Greg.

[lazjen]

Thanks Geoff- yes, it certainly does a much better job than I can do manually.



I'm familiar with SCNR, just that I generally don't like using it much if I can avoid it. Perhaps it's just me, but besides the obvious green removal, it does sometimes seem to lose some overall signal in the image.