Horsehead from the Queensland Astrofest and 3 nights at Leyburn
Well, I had a great time this weekend at Leyburn. I captured some Horsehead over 2 nights to add to the data I captured last month and the month before at the Queensland Astrofest. Need to say this Wow, astronomy 3 times in three months
This is the first rough process of the data stacked in PixInsight from all four nights. I wasn't as careful as I could have been on the best night (last night) so the focus was off and that has made some artefacts around the stars, at least that is what I think is going on. Needless to say there is a lot more work needed to be done.
At this stage I cant think how much data and the full details... I think something like 6 x 300 sec 1600 + 6 x 600 sec 1600 + 6 x 600 sec 1600 + 14 x 600 sec 1600, about 290 minutes? I'll have to check, might be more might be less.
In spite of the artefacts I'm pretty chuffed... More data next month?
Ah processing that hard earned data from a dark sky weekend...what great excitement That result is really quite good, well done
Mike
Thanks Mike, I am still scratching around in the processing area, and while I am happy with the result, I think thatere is more I can do to improve it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gregbradley
An excellent Horsehead image.
Greg.
Thanks Greg.
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Originally Posted by RickS
A very nice HH, Tony. Well done!
Thanks Rick, I need to work out what I am doing in the stacking process, as I pretty well used the default settings, so there should be some improvements there. I found I have dark halos around the brighter stars which may have something to do with poor focus on Sunday night.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidTrap
Nicely done Tony!
DT
Thanks David. I enjoyed your startrail.
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Originally Posted by jjjnettie
That's a beaut little Horsie!
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Originally Posted by naskies
Well done, Tony - that's a great image. It was nice to have a bit of a pow wow under the stars to pass the time
I had a great time too David. Thanks for your time and help over the weekend. Good luck with your exams.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RB
Great capture Tony, well done buddy.
RB
Thanks Andrew, I have a long way to go before I can produce your quality though.
Here are those halos I was talking about. Any ideas?
The brighter regions may be a little over-stretched, causing bright halos as well as some of the brighter nebula being a little burned out (eg. centre of the blue reflection nebula).
Like minds, I just couldn't resist the Horse Head myself and had to get the old camera going again. But mine is no match for that data, well done, great colours.
Focus, focus and focus again. And I still don't listen to my own advice.
A mighty fine image Tony, dig the colors and the contrasty horsey stands out heaps, Top result
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Originally Posted by multiweb
Beautiful colors. Well done.
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Originally Posted by lazjen
Like the colours, like the horsehead. Nice.
Thanks Bob,Marc and Chris. The colours just came to the fore and I felt that they seemed most natural.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TimberLand
Like minds, I just couldn't resist the Horse Head myself and had to get the old camera going again. But mine is no match for that data, well done, great colours.
Focus, focus and focus again. And I still don't listen to my own advice.
Top job Tony.
Justin
Thanks Justin. Do you think that the dark halos in the crop I posted have to do with the focus or the stacking parameters? I haven't had a chance to do a repro as yet.. It may take some time to get back to it... maybe after the next dark weekend and more data?
Looks like clipped data from either the stacking process or maybe colour noise reduction. I get similar faults with LRGB and the colour smoothing too aggressive.
Thanks Chris. I used the WO 110 Megrez with a 0.8x reducer/flattener, effective fl of 524mm.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TimberLand
Looks like clipped data from either the stacking process or maybe colour noise reduction. I get similar faults with LRGB and the colour smoothing too aggressive.
Is it in the original images off the camera.
Justin
the halos were there right after the stacking. I suspect that it is either to do with the poor focus in October, or too few frames from the Queensland Astrofest, and therefore the incorrect parameters in PixInsight. I'll have another go at reprocessing in the next few weeks or so. Outside chance I will be able to do it before the meeting on Friday, but the current repro will suffice if I don't have the time.
Are you coming to the OGM Friday? Or how about the Combined Meeting at Griffith on the 25th?
That result is really quite good, well done 
