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Old 05-06-2018, 11:54 AM
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sil (Steve)
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Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Canberra
Posts: 1,474
Great start jman, keep going with PixInsight! The Light Vortex tutorials I think are fantastic and they have a very good workflow, not far from my own(not saying mine is great just I arrived at a similar process to theirs on my own). As a starting point try the Batch Pre Processing (BPP) script in PixInsight. Its sort of a one click process, dump in whatever lights darks Flats you have and it will run through registration (aligning) and integration (stacking) using the files you gave it. Even if its only a handful of lights only. It'll output a master integration file which is your starting point for stretching etc and an autostretch in screentranfser function will show you what you've got. It uses a basic workflow to align and stack your images and serves most people perfectly well.

For me a master integration frame (one file 64bit depth, containing ALL my data aligned and stacked) is my processing starting point. Stacking has reduced noice and removed plane/satellite trails etc. Its a huge file and I makes a copy to start working off from there, as I experiment and learn and make mistakes and find tutorials to follow its this file I recopy to start fresh with. As I learn my workflow changes and with that master integration file I can compare easily how my current workflow compares against my previous since its the same starting point. Registration and Integration I've only adjusted my methods with a couple of times with very little noticable differences at the other end.

Something PI introduced "recently" (months ago, its been ages since I've used it) is a photometry colour correction (forget what its called but its standard in the package, Rick might chime in) that uses plate solving to look up reference data and make colour correction adjustment to get your star colours and nebulosity more accurate. Its an awesome tool and alone I have to redo my entire workflow as it shortcuts some steps I take to preserve colour changes while I process. If you plate solve and save your master integration file it'll use this data (you might have to figure out how to add the date/time/location FITS metadata into the file too).

PI is a steep learning curve at first. But its easy to use to take your data and give you an image from it that'll be good, but its also go immense power if you are willing to take the time to explore the options at each step to maximise the processing at all stages to end up with a fantastic image. Start with BPP script and you can take darks and flats another night if you didnt when you got the lights, just make sure same settings etc. Or you can process with Lights alone.
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