Over 2 nights

[rcheshire (Rowland)]

2.6 hours over 2 nights.

[cybereye (Mario)]

Very nice - it gives me something to aspire to!!

Cheers,
Mario

[rcheshire (Rowland)]

Thanks Mario. It's always good to get feedback. Given the wet winter, and only 2 opportunities to AP M8 has taken a hiding.

Once all the lights (35 in total) from 2 nights (3 weeks apart) were combined, the SNR started to show significant improvement. The other thing was using ACDNR (noise reduction) with luminance mask in Pixinsight after the first non-linear stretch. I found that it solved any clipping problems that I'd been having with this set of images.

All in all, much easier to deal with. Generally, once you get used to the interface and Pixinsight way of doing things, and I have a long way to go yet, it's all so much easier.

Next is those Pillars of Creation that you've been working on. The plan is to image over several nights, rather than attempting it all in one go - even if it takes a month or two.

Cheers,

Rowland.

[renormalised (Carl)]

Nice shot....like the colours

Still looks like you're having some tracking problems (eggy stars across the piccie). Either that or you don't have a field flattener attached. I see you have one...is it attached to the scope when you take piccies??

Another thing to watch out for is that you have your camera aligned properly when you attach it to your scope. Even if it's slightly off, it will produce egging of stars.

[rcheshire (Rowland)]

That's it in a nutshell. I have the field flattener attached, but having problems with camera tilt and tracking.

Thinking through solutions to fix the camera tilt and automating capture, so that I can do some guided shots with the hand paddle. Polar alignment is a bit hit and miss, max 3 minute exposures, most of the time.

[renormalised (Carl)]

You may need a beefier focuser.

May need to spend some more time with drift aligning the scope before you start to take piccies and even try to get a better initial alignment when setting up.

[cybereye (Mario)]

Rowland,

I think you've got the right approach.

I try to rush through and get a fantastic image in one night with only a handful of subs. I then rush the processing to get something to post which in turn tends to be of a lesser quality than I'd expected. I think I need to take the many nights, many subs approach to get a decent image.

Once I've got my mpcc issues sorted I'll be back into the swing of things!!!

Keep up the good work,

Cheers,
Mario

[Alchemy (Clive)]

Reading between the lines, these are unguided shots ?

The Ha areas stand out well, and as you have found out more subs help give a better picture. Shaping up nicely.

[rcheshire (Rowland)]

Hi all.

Agreed. It'd be a whole lot better with patience and attention to detail, and a bit more time fixing the mechanical problems.

Learning a few lessons here Mario - you should really be in business with that new gear.

Looking forward to the results.