Widefield, from Mars to Orion

[iceman]

Took some more widefield images last night with the 350D on the EQ platform.

Used the 18-55mm @ 18mm, f/3.5.

Took 5 x 90s exposures, and they suffer from a lot of sky glow :( I need a dark site! And it'll help when i'm pointing at something straight up, not on the horizon!

Two images are attached:
1. Registered and median combined in Registar, and then processed in photoshop.
2. Registered and median combined in Registar, and then processed in PixInsight LE.

PixInsight is a great program, very powerful, though very hard to use. I'll keep at it though, as I think it will do a great job once I get the hang of it. It did a better job at removing sky glow, though it looks like i've lost some stars as well.

I tried Iris, but I agree with Striker.. horrible program to use :) I'm sure it's good at doing a certain task on a sequence of images but incredibly un-user friendly.

Anyway if you'd like to have a go at my 5 originals, they can be downloaded here (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/downloads/mars-orion-originals.zip) (18meg).

Thanks

[h0ughy]

nice mike, something flew through the 1st photo

[iceman]

yeh a big rotten plane flew through 2 out of 5 exposures.

The "median" combine in registar removed most of it, and pixinsight's "DynamicBackgroundExtraction" tool completed removed it in the second shot.

[ving]

just to the right of m45 is a big circle. what caused that?

[ballaratdragons]

???? I can't see any circle David????

Well done Mike. Nice pics Mike. Both of them!!

[ving]

maybe its a LCD thing ken :confused:

[h0ughy]

I can see the circle too, I have a superbright LCD monitor, one of those excellent clearscreen laptops, its there!!!!

[atalas]

Very nice shots Mike ! try a CLS filter will give you the 5 minutes you want :)

[ballaratdragons]

The circle doesn't show up on my CRT!

Oh well, they are nice shots anyway.



I want a circle too :sad:

[Striker]

I see a donut in the lower middle of the first picture.

Here it is highlighted....I dont mean to point out any faults Mike I just want to know what its from.

Here Ken...have this donut

[avandonk]

It's most probably due to an internal reflection in the lens from Mars.The fact that Mars is so bright makes it the number one suspect.The other giveaway that it is on a line through the centre with Mars.

Bert

[ballaratdragons]

Hooray! I can see that one. Thanks Tony.

[rowena]

Mike.... Did you cover the eyepeice that you look through on the camera?... if you dont cover that, and you have a light/bright background (aka behind the camera where you would normally stand to take the photo) then that will also give internal reflection into the camera. Just thought i would let u know that :)

I like your 2nd pic too :) welcome to widefield photography!

[iceman]

Hi guys.

The circle was caused (I think) by some dust or smudge either on the lens or the CCD, and it causes a bright patch after processing. I tried removing it during processing, which you now see as the funny looking area that striker posted.

[RB]

I had a bit of a play with your image Mike.
Adjusted the levels and used Xterminator to get rid of amp glow.
Unsarp mask as well.
The plane streak seems to have almost dissapeared along with the ring.
At least on my CRT.

How's it look there?

[iceman]

Looks nice Andrew, thanks! Did you play with the raw jpegs, or with my already processed image?

[RB]

I used the already processed one Mike.
Might have a go at the RAW. :confuse3: