First image

[hobbit]

Here is my first attempt at astrophotography.
I took 12 of these at 5min each but when i try and stack them i get either a black screen with a couple of bright dots (dss) or a blue screen with many blurry stars (ccdstacker)

So here is just a single image.

[tilbrook@rbe.ne (Justin Tilbrook)]

Hi,

Good start!

Very good DSO for a fist image, looks like you are dealing with a fair bit of noise.
What sort of camera are you using?

Cheers,

Justin.

[hobbit]

It was an SBIG ST-8300C

[LightningNZ (Cam)]

Pretty impressive for a single image. In DSS, do the registration step first and make sure you have 30-100 stars to register. Then try maybe a median stack.
Cheers,
Cam

[Rex]

G'day,
Nice shot for your first attempt. Did you take darks? When you stack the images, do you have the "set blackpoint to zero" checked? Whenever I check that box my image always comes out black and no amount of stretching will bring it back. Uncheck it and restack them. If it is not checked then before you close DSS have a play with the sliders to stretch it a little before you save it. Don't go too far with DSS as it seems to posterise the image pretty quickly. Hope that helps.

[hobbit]

Originally Posted by Rex

G'day,
Nice shot for your first attempt. Did you take darks? When you stack the images, do you have the "set blackpoint to zero" checked? Whenever I check that box my image always comes out black and no amount of stretching will bring it back. Uncheck it and restack them. If it is not checked then before you close DSS have a play with the sliders to stretch it a little before you save it. Don't go too far with DSS as it seems to posterise the image pretty quickly. Hope that helps.

Hi.
As I'm not sure what a dark is, I doubt I did. I just told the system to take 15 shots and that's what it did.

I don't recall seeing a blackpoint setting but I'll have another look when I get home.