NGC-55 The Whale Galaxy & First light

[evltoy]

So I got my ASIair Plus on Tuesday & ASI294MC Pro, so this is a first light/attempt with the two.

Had a 2hr opening last night (9pm-11pm) so I thought I would give the units a test run to understand how they all work. WOW! Setup with the ASIair is soooo easy I cant get over it! Did some basic EAA to show the wife then had hr spare and decided to find a target high in the sky and shoot what I could. No planning and no intention to attempt, but the system was that easy... I just had too.

Wasn't expecting anything much for 40mins of time, but I was very impressed with the camera and whole eco-system. Now just have to refine my workflow to get those round stars.

Capture details:
Date: 17/11/21
Location: Officer, VIC.
Mount: nEQ6 Pro
OTA: Celestron C8 XLT with x.63 reducer
Guide: ZWO 60280 w/ ASI120MM mini
Camera: ZWO ASI294MC Pro
Filter: Baader Moon & Skyglow
Gain: 120
Cam Temp: -10
Lights: 61 @ 30sec (30mins)
Darks: 20
Flats: 20
Bias: 30
Bortle: class 6 (clear outside app)
Lunar: 98% Full
Post work: DSS & PS

[xelasnave]

You are doing great.
May I suggest Startools it will improve what you have there and help with stars.
Well done.
Alex

[Startrek]

Good effort there for a mag 8 galaxy under moon glare with limited data
As your probably aware, Galaxies are best imaged with your OSC during the new moon period with just a UV/IR cut filter. The moon is your enemy when it comes to galaxy imaging , plays havoc with detail and colour
Also imaging a mag 8 galaxy with a OSC you need plenty of data to improve your SNR together with your calibration, at least 2 or 3 hours of data or more
Nice camera by the way
Well done !!
I can echo Alex’s advice about Startools, I’ve been an advocate for years with this software and it keeps improving with every version

Cheers
Martin

[evltoy]

Thanks heap for the feedback guys.

@Alex - I will look into Startools & Pixinsight for post works once the learning curve with the gear slows down.... I still have a lot to learn and I want to take my time and do it somewhat right.

@Martin - Melb weather has been crap for the last 3-4 weeks, so I was just lucky to get 2hrs of clear skies to play around with the new gear. I wasn't planning on imaging, but thought why not! moon or no moon I just needed to get out :)

[Startrek]

Melbourne only 3 to 4 weeks crap weather ?
Sydney’s been crap for 10 weeks ( I’ve only had 2 full clear stable nights during that period and next week has cloud and rain ) So November is a wash out
Maybe December might break this drought ( Forecasters have put it down to La Niña , higher than average rainfall and cloud across eastern Australia)
Crap weather is part of the deal unfortunately

[Stephane]

Nice capture Wayne!

I also noticed a couple of hours of good weather last night and was so tempted to attempt an unguided target (haven’t yet received my guidescope). I am such a beginner though, it would have taken me 1-2 hours just to set up, glad I didn’t as the weather didn’t hold.

[evltoy]

Dont worry, I was just in the same boat until now with ASIair. It used to take me 30-45min to do the H/ware setup, then once it gets dark I was spending anything between 1-2hr with Star Align, PA, focusing, Plate Solving, exposure & framing, Guiding setup and then kicking off the Plan for the night.

Now I dont have to be outside in the cold and my setup time is cut by 60-70%. Dont get me wrong, I'm a tech/application junkie, but sometimes nature just doesn't give you the time.

[multiweb]

Very nicely done Wayne. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: You possibly could stretch the data a little more without burning the stars using the raw file as what you have captured is pretty good.

[Stephane]

Thanks Wayne, I am also thinking of getting the ASI air plus down the track. For now though, I think it's important for me to get used to all those processes you mentioned. I might give it a few months or year before I get the ASI air. Maybe by then, there might be a new gadget, or I might be really enjoying setting everything up "the old-fashioned way" lol.

Really nice picture. I hope that I can post my first ever deep sky capture of the great Orion nebula in the coming weeks.

[evltoy]

:eyepop: surly thats not my image! If so, what did you do and what software you use? I tend to be very conservative to my images to retain its most natural state and scared of blowing out stars




Cheers & it will come and when it does you will be hooked! Yep and thats what I did. During Covid I was very fortunate to put more time than usual into learning etc :D I say take as long as it takes to learn the fundamentals (not saying I know them all) which will give you a solid base knowledge moving forward.

[multiweb]

I just had a look at the JPEG in Photoshop and tweaked the levels a bit. I'm sure you can get a much better result stretching the raw file. If you want to dropbox the original (raw linear 16bit FIT or TIFF) we could have a look and a go at it.

[evltoy]

Hey Marc

You would do that! That would be awesome to see what someone else can do.

When you say RAW file are you talking about the Tiff file I create after the stacking process in DSS? If so this is a 390Mb as I 2x drizzle.

I have a solid connection with endless data so I'm ok for a upload. Send me a PM with the dropbox link... if you dare :D

Cheers
Wayne

[multiweb]

Yes the linear TIFF is perfect if you can upload it and send the link. :thumbsup: