Ic447

[AlexN]

Quick throw together image of IC447 as a shake down for the new imaging train.

Image consists of 9h 5min integration.
115x180s L Bin 1x1
30x120s R Bin 2x2
30x120s G Bin 2x2
40x120s B Bin 2x2

Darks, flats and bias frames used for calibration.

The weather unfortunately cut night 2 short, I had hoped to get another 20m R and G to help bolster the colour signal, but overall this is pretty clean for only 9h from bortle 5 skies.

All I can say is - wow...
The IMX571 does not disappoint.

As a laugh, I did a run through of processing this data without the darks, just to see what would happen, and sort of knowingly did not have enough integration on the RGB data at all - to my surprise, the difference between using darks and not using darks was INCREDIBLY low.

I did a few tests with the filters too - doing a 3min Lum and a 3min B exposure on Alnitak to test for the dreaded flares/reflections/halos, and to my surprise, there were none... This is a very good sign!!

Really looking forward to getting my next hit of clear skies to pull down some narrowband data and see how this thing goes!

Equipment Used
Askar 120APO with 1x Field Flattener
ToupTek ATR2600M camera
ToupTek 7x36mm filterwheel
ToupTek M54 OAG-L
ToupTek 36mm LRGB filters
Emcan Astro EM31 Pro harmonic mount.
Driven via mini-pc and NINA
Processed in PixInsight

AstroBin for full resolution.

[Paul Haese]

I like this resolution and detailing of this object Alex. The colour balance looks good too. You might want to consider doing some Ha which is rife in this area.

[AlexN]

Thanks Paul, I did pull in 1x300s ha frame to have a look, it didn't show heaps, but I might spend 3 or 4h on it and see what I can see then.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Lovely ethereal shot that Alex, from B5 skies too, great stuff!!

A very intricate, almost eclectic, yet subtle field, I like it, nice processing

Mike

[Startrek (Martin)]

Alex,
Beautiful image and nicely processed
Glad your stoked about the new set up !!!
Well done !!
Yes the IMX571 sensor is superb but it does exhibit RTN or 1/f noise ( commonly referred to as salt and pepper noise confirmed by Han developer of ASTAP during thorough testing ) Darks will remove this RTN during calibration whether you see it or not.
Everyone keeps saying you don’t need Darks for this sensor !! It’s as if it’s a real time consuming burden. Heck it takes me a day and half once a year to create my Dark Library and I know then by using Darks that I have eliminated any doubt.
Same with the Bias and Flat Darks scenario. I use to use Bias all the time as I could see a big difference but now I always use Flat Darks as they are gold standard in calibrating Flats , and again take no time at all.
I’m a firm believer, there’s no short cuts in this hobby , the more you put in , the more you get out !!

Cheers
Martin

[AlexN]

I still used darks Martin, but the 6h stack of Lum with and without (with a fairly aggressive dither) and bias frames was so similar to the Dark calibrated image that it was BARELY noticeable.

I'll still use Darks, because they don't cost anything and they can only improve the image...

Thanks everyone for your comments. I was really quite impressed with this myself....