Tak First Light

[Benny L (Ben)]

Here are a couple of images through the tak..

DF subtracted other than a crap flat field on IC 434 images are native.

IC 434 - Ha 900 R 900 G600 B 650

M42 R 900 G600 B 650

http://www.perthfalcons.com.au/index...=post&id=28675
http://www.perthfalcons.com.au/index...=post&id=28674

[gbeal]

Nice Benny. The M42 one was a little overcooked in the core (as mine often are), but the HH was a ripper.
Given the serious glass in your signature I would be suggesting an adaptor from Steven Mogg to slip the L series ones onto the STL.

[jase (Jason)]

Good effort Benny.
Colours look good and balanced. Stars are a little washed and bloated, you may want to perform the PS minimum filter on them. The IC434 background doesn't appear neutralised. The image has background colour gradients present possibly due to light pollution. Your flats must be a mess as it looks like they've done nothing to reduce vignetting on both images.

Nice work, but seriously, you've got some very nice gear that has the capability to deliver significantly better images than these. Keep at it. I feel certain we'll see some improvement with time.

[leon]

Benny, for a first attempt with new gear they are great images, I know it takes a while to get it all happening, I'm still getting there, well done, and as Jase, and the others say, keep at it mate.

Leon

[Benny L (Ben)]

cheers fellas.. trying to learn by trial and error atm got the gear to do it now i have to learn to use it properly. especially when my dad has been using film to do this sort of stuff for the last 25 years..

gbeal.. i have an eos adapter already and i look foward to putting it to use.

can anyone direct me to a decent tutorial on flat-fields and the minimum filter method that Jase mentioned?

cheers all

[jase (Jason)]

Benny,
There are plenty of online resources to assist you in taking flats - even one here on IIS - http://www.iceinspace.com.au/index.p...63,211,0,0,1,0

In relation to the minimum filter, I'm assuming you're familiar with the colour range tool as you'll need to use this for star selection. There are other advanced methods for star selection, but the colour range tool does a fair job.
Once you've got only the stars selected and have feathered the selection (say by 2 pixels), apply the minimum filter - Filter | Other | Minimum. Typically 1 pixel is sufficient. This will also bring back the star colours and reduce bloating. Make sure you feather! Feathering applies to just about all PS selection functions in astro image processing. Failing to feather results in abrupt/harsh results.

You should also take more than one subs and dither between them. This will get rid of the two column defects present in IC434. I find it intriguing how you came to the exposure time ratio of R:900;G:600;B:650. Was this calculation based a G2V star and if so what filters are you using?

[Benny L (Ben)]

Originally Posted by jase

Benny,
There are plenty of online resources to assist you in taking flats - even one here on IIS - http://www.iceinspace.com.au/index.p...63,211,0,0,1,0

In relation to the minimum filter, I'm assuming you're familiar with the colour range tool as you'll need to use this for star selection. There are other advanced methods for star selection, but the colour range tool does a fair job.
Once you've got only the stars selected and have feathered the selection (say by 2 pixels), apply the minimum filter - Filter | Other | Minimum. Typically 1 pixel is sufficient. This will also bring back the star colours and reduce bloating. Make sure you feather! Feathering applies to just about all PS selection functions in astro image processing. Failing to feather results in abrupt/harsh results.

You should also take more than one subs and dither between them. This will get rid of the two column defects present in IC434. I find it intriguing how you came to the exposure time ratio of R:900;G:600;B:650. Was this calculation based a G2V star and if so what filters are you using?

just jagged something that seems to work for me lol, i am using astronomik filters.

cheers mate