After a rather successful nights imaging, I have here my first pic for this morning... its sort of a rushjob edit as I just wanted to see what I had...
This is the first time I've had the QHY8 working with autoguiding, and I must say, guided shots are much better than unguided..
That is so nice, Alex. I'm just a beginner and very inexperienced, and the Horse is one of those things that fascinates me. I hope to someday capture it myself.
Good picture. Do you use flats yet? They make a big improvement with dust motes and vignetting. Depends on the OTA but in my case I can't do without them on bright objects. (i.e. Alnitak)
Kirk, ever since I got into astronomy, (March this year) I've wanted my own image of the the horse head... I'm pretty happy with this shot, however I'll probably go it again tomorrow, add in some more data and hopefully smooth out the details..
Marc, Unfortunately, My lightbox is 0% of the way through construction so no, no flats yet... I do have to do it though.. and soon!
Kirk, ever since I got into astronomy, (March this year) I've wanted my own image of the the horse head... I'm pretty happy with this shot, however I'll probably go it again tomorrow, add in some more data and hopefully smooth out the details..
Marc, Unfortunately, My lightbox is 0% of the way through construction so no, no flats yet... I do have to do it though.. and soon!
Sky flats work very well for me. You should give it a go. Take 10-15 then stack them. Keep your max ADU under 20000 and you're good to go. Just divide your subs by the master flat.
I was reading your M42 post and wondered where your Horsehead
image was...just found it
Ditto about wanting your own horsehead!
I've been at this game way longer than you and the horsehead
has always managed to frustrate me....
Keep them coming man!....now I'm off to check out your Eta C
Now I've had some sleep im going to go back over the data for a 2nd attempt at editing.. should be a bit better
When I first got into astronomy, all I wanted to see was the horsehead, then I found out that to "see" it, you need mass aperture, dark skies, a Hbeta filter etc etc.. and still you only see black sky, with a hazy grey patch that has a little thumb print of black in it...
At that moment, I started saving towards the photography gear I use now. I figured If i was going to spend heaps and heaps of cash to see the horse out of my equipemnt, you can be damn sure im seeing it in full color and detail
Good start mate ... not an easy target ... needs lots of data to bring out the finer details. Here's a tweak of your post ... hope you don't mind. It's not a great job I'm afraid ... just messin' around.
Steve, You should know by now, I always appreciate others having a stab at fixing up my images
I was hoping to spend another hour or two on it tonight, but was defeated by clouds...
Im starting to wish I hadnt spent so long on M42 (my continued semi-megadata project) and spent a few hours on the horse..... Next time... Theres always next time
Steve, You should know by now, I always appreciate others having a stab at fixing up my images
I was hoping to spend another hour or two on it tonight, but was defeated by clouds...
Im starting to wish I hadnt spent so long on M42 (my continued semi-megadata project) and spent a few hours on the horse..... Next time... Theres always next time
No worries mate ... I'm being really slack lately with my astronomy because I'll be moving to my dark sky location in 4 weeks time and I figure why keep fighting the light pollution, it won't get any better so I'll wait.
Lovely first pony. Alnitak is always a challange. Others will be able to better explain using shorter exposures and then aplying masks to balance the beast. Check masks in ps help.
Matt - I know how to use layer masks with shorter exposures, I just didnt think of it in this case.. I'll give it a go next time with some 2 - 3 minute exposures...
Thanks JJJ... my 8 month long wish has been fulfilled in this image... Now.. to better it with 10x20min subs! (and a different UV/IR filter to get rid of that halo)
Yes, sound advice from others re Flats...it will certainly step up your image quality.
You've capture the scene well. With different objects in the one fov with varying intensities, it can be beneficial to layer these for controlling the contrast. Its is important however to keep the objects relative. DDP stretches don't work very well in these situations, so typical levels and curves will deliver the best result. Nice work. Keep it up.
Matt - I know how to use layer masks with shorter exposures, I just didnt think of it in this case.. I'll give it a go next time with some 2 - 3 minute exposures...
Sorry Alex, I should have looked at your number of posts but I'm still fairly new to the forum and don't know everyone that well yet. Good luck!
so no, no flats yet... I do have to do it though.. and soon! 
