Hi Aidan, really nice detail, and especially good for a first attempt. Not sure if you have already or not, but your image could possibly benefit from applying some flat field subs? Did you take any flats? Your guiding is superb.
Thanks for the feedback. This is the thing that is bugging me most. I started shooting after dark so I couldn't take good flats, I tried taking a picture of a wall saturated in light . But when I applied them it looked worse. I also need to clean my secondary mirror. Any tips on getting good flats ?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rex
Hi Aidan, really nice detail, and especially good for a first attempt. Not sure if you have already or not, but your image could possibly benefit from applying some flat field subs? Did you take any flats? Your guiding is superb.
Aidan, the most important thing with taking flats is that you leave the system as it was when you took the light frames, and to take them as soon as practicle after the images. What I mean by that is as long as you haven't moved your focuser or rotated your camera, or added any extra filters or anything into the image train you can take them anytime. I like to take them as soon as is possible after the image frames, and I don't have a light box, so what I do is similar to what most people call T'shirt flats. I have a piece of white material that I keep clean, wrinkle free and a strip of elastic. I like to take my flats after the light frames because that ensures that any dew droplets or smudges of dust that appeared during the night will be included in your flats. The early morning after an imaging session, about 5.30 or so, so that the sky is starting to lighten up, I park my scope, which for me is pointed at the SCP, cover the scope end with my material using the elastic around the end of the scope to make sure no wrinkles are in it as they will show up in the flats. I use the same ISO as my images and put the camera into AV mode and take 50 to 100 shots. They are normally less than a second duration each so they don't take long, and that's it. That's all I do. The only suggestion that I have would be make sure the material you use has a very fine weave or else the weave can put a pattern in your flats. I tried t'shirts and many other different types of material that added the pattern, so didn't work. What I ended up using is an old cotton sheet that we had. Works a treat, and like I said makes a big difference. Good luck and let us know how you go.
Lol, it actually doesn't have to be that early. I do it then because that's when I cover everything up for the day before work. As long as you are pointed away from the sun and at a patch of well illuminated sky it could be more or less any time.
yeah but I generally pack up at about mid night, I don't have a permanent set up. if I put a sheet over the scope and take a picture of a white wall, will that work ? maybe I should just build a light box ...
A properly built light box is the best solution but sometimes we have to make do with what we have. The wall might work, the trick is to make sure it is evenly illuminated or else you will induce gradients into your images. You could take them of an afternoon before u start? What i said about after is best case but even illumination is more important. Just remember to point away from the glow of the sun otherwise the flats will be brighter on one side than the other, and once again induce gradients. All I can say is try it and see how goes. Good luck and let us know.
anyway of avoiding that ?
