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Flame + Horsehead Nebula
With a new moon and the weather in Melbourne on Wednesday permitting, I decided to head out to the backyard and really focus on a few things that I've identified as needing improvement with my imaging sessions.
Firstly, I finally managed to get ASCOM pulse guiding working - having previously used the on-camera ST4 guiding and I can say that my guiding graph has never looked so good! However, I did notice that standing on any of the concrete blocks near the tripod significantly impacted on guiding, it amazes me just how sensitive we have to be with this equipment.
Secondly, the day before going out I actually took the time to sit down, research and determine the optimal gain/offset values for the QHY8-Pro. Furthermore, identifying target ADU values for taking flats. I think these two things have made the biggest difference overall and I'm thrilled with the progress I've made thus far, but there's always more to tweak and learn.
The flame + horsehead nebula has been a target I've long wanted to shoot since getting into AP, but was previously unavailable to me due to using an unmodified DSLR. With the QHY8-Pro I'm able to pick up those Ha regions quite well, especially considering I'm shooting from a bortle 8 zone.
Still learning Pixinsight, but getting more and more comfortable with it the more I use it. This time I delved into processes like DynamicBackgroundExtraction, ColorCalibration, BackgroundNeutralization and MultiscaleLinearTransform (which I must say is awesome at nuking a good portion of noise).
Overall, I'm happy with the results. There's a slight gradient coming from the left of frame which I'm guessing is due to the intense light pollution from the city. The stars in the center of frame seem nicely round, however I notice they are blurred at the edges... I'm not entirely sure what is causing this?
As always, tips/criticism is always welcome!
Total integration:
48 x 180s Subs
20 Darks/20 Flats/40 Bias (SuperBias)
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