Yeah if the smart scope is just doing all the work and spitting out an image on its own that’s fine. Generally as long as you include any kind of info about your processing steps it’s fine, and you can have it be as brief or detailed as you want (I know mine are on the longer side).
Personally I’m all for more detail = better. It’s a lot easier for people to give constructive criticism, and a good enough writeup can serve as a guide for those just learning how to process (and I’m always going back to my old posts just to remember how the hell I even processed a tricky image)
Hi OP can you include acquisition/processing info per rule 5?
Hi OP can you include acquisition/processing info per rule 5?
Sh2-64 is the red nebula to the right of the image. It frames up pretty well with the more golden stars seen in the milky way core. I probably should've gotten more exposure time to help bring out some of the dark nebula details, but it was only clear for one night at the dark site (at least the night went perfectly, which is rare for trips out to the middle of nowhere). Captured on June 7th, 2024 from a Bortle 3 zone (Deerlick Astronomy Village)
Places where I host my other images:
-
TPO 6" F/4 Imaging Newtonian
-
Orion Sirius EQ-G
-
ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro
-
Skywatcher Quattro Coma Corrector
-
ZWO EFW 8x1.25"/31mm
-
Astronomik LRGB+CLS Filters- 31mm
-
Astrodon 31mm Ha 5nm, Oiii 3nm, Sii 5nm
-
Agena 50mm Deluxe Straight-Through Guide Scope
-
ZWO ASI-290mc for guiding
-
Moonlite Autofocuser
Acquisition: 5 hours 44 minutes (Camera at half unity gain -15°C)
-
L - 76x120"
-
R - 32x120"
-
G - 32x120"
-
B - 32x120"
-
Darks- 30
-
Flats- 30 per filter
Capture Software:
- Captured using N.I.N.A. and PHD2 for guiding and dithering.
PixInsight Preprocessing:
-
BatchPreProcessing
-
StarAlignment
-
ImageIntegration per channel per panel
-
DrizzleIntegration (2x, Var β=1.5)
-
Dynamic Crop
-
DynamicBackgroundExtraction
Luminance Linear:
-
BlurXterminator (Correct only)
-
NoiseXterminator
-
HistogramTransformation + sketchpad's iHDR script (low preset) to stretch to nonlinear
RGB Linear:
-
ChannelCombination to combine monochrom R G and B stacks into color image
-
SpectrophotometricColorCalibration
-
BlurXterminator (correct only)
-
HSV repair
-
ArcsinhStretch + iHDR script (low preset) to stretch to nonlinear
Nonlinear Processing:
-
LRGBCombination using stretched L as luminance
-
DeepSNR
-
Various curve adjustments for lightness, contrast, hue, saturation, etc (with varying lum/star masks)
-
Slight SCNR green
-
ColorSaturation to boost the saturation of the Ha region
-
More curves
-
NoiseXterminator
-
invert > SCNR > invert to remove some magentas
-
LocalHistogramEqualization
two rounds at scale 16 and 132 to target different sized structures
-
LOTS more curve adjustments
-
MultiscaleLinearTransform for chrominance noise reduction
-
Even more curves
-
Resample to 60%
-
Annotation
Sh2-64 is the red nebula to the right of the image. It frames up pretty well with the more golden stars seen in the milky way core. I probably should've gotten more exposure time to help bring out some of the dark nebula details, but it was only clear for one night at the dark site (at least the night went perfectly, which is rare for trips out to the middle of nowhere). Captured on June 7th, 2024 from a Bortle 3 zone (Deerlick Astronomy Village)
Places where I host my other images:
-
TPO 6" F/4 Imaging Newtonian
-
Orion Sirius EQ-G
-
ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro
-
Skywatcher Quattro Coma Corrector
-
ZWO EFW 8x1.25"/31mm
-
Astronomik LRGB+CLS Filters- 31mm
-
Astrodon 31mm Ha 5nm, Oiii 3nm, Sii 5nm
-
Agena 50mm Deluxe Straight-Through Guide Scope
-
ZWO ASI-290mc for guiding
-
Moonlite Autofocuser
Acquisition: 5 hours 44 minutes (Camera at half unity gain -15°C)
-
L - 76x120"
-
R - 32x120"
-
G - 32x120"
-
B - 32x120"
-
Darks- 30
-
Flats- 30 per filter
Capture Software:
- Captured using N.I.N.A. and PHD2 for guiding and dithering.
PixInsight Preprocessing:
-
BatchPreProcessing
-
StarAlignment
-
ImageIntegration per channel per panel
-
DrizzleIntegration (2x, Var β=1.5)
-
Dynamic Crop
-
DynamicBackgroundExtraction
Luminance Linear:
-
BlurXterminator (Correct only)
-
NoiseXterminator
-
HistogramTransformation + sketchpad's iHDR script (low preset) to stretch to nonlinear
RGB Linear:
-
ChannelCombination to combine monochrom R G and B stacks into color image
-
SpectrophotometricColorCalibration
-
BlurXterminator (correct only)
-
HSV repair
-
ArcsinhStretch + iHDR script (low preset) to stretch to nonlinear
Nonlinear Processing:
-
LRGBCombination using stretched L as luminance
-
DeepSNR
-
Various curve adjustments for lightness, contrast, hue, saturation, etc (with varying lum/star masks)
-
Slight SCNR green
-
ColorSaturation to boost the saturation of the Ha region
-
More curves
-
NoiseXterminator
-
invert > SCNR > invert to remove some magentas
-
LocalHistogramEqualization
two rounds at scale 16 and 132 to target different sized structures
-
LOTS more curve adjustments
-
MultiscaleLinearTransform for chrominance noise reduction
-
Even more curves
-
Resample to 60%
-
Annotation
Omega Centauri is the largest globular cluster in the sky and contains about 10 million stars, but it's generally considered a southern hemisphere target since it's at -47 declination. It was right at the meridian for me while waiting for it to get completely dark out, so I tried shooting it at just 9 degrees up. Had to do short exposures without guiding, because even the dim flashlights of the other campers with me would overwhelm my guide camera. Captured on June 7th, 2024 from a Bortle 3 zone (Deerlick Astronomy Village)
Places where I host my other images:
-
TPO 6" F/4 Imaging Newtonian
-
Orion Sirius EQ-G
-
ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro
-
Skywatcher Quattro Coma Corrector
-
ZWO EFW 8x1.25"/31mm
-
Astronomik LRGB+CLS Filters- 31mm
-
Astrodon 31mm Ha 5nm, Oiii 3nm, Sii 5nm
-
Agena 50mm Deluxe Straight-Through Guide Scope
-
ZWO ASI-120MC for guiding
-
Moonlite Autofocuser
Acquisition: 12 minutes (Camera at half Unity Gain, -15°C)
-
Lum - 20x10"
-
Red - 11x15"
-
Green - 13x15"
-
Blue - 12x15"
-
Flats- 30 per filter
Capture Software:
- Captured using N.I.N.A.
PixInsight Processing:
-
BatchPreProcessing
-
StarAlignment
-
ImageIntegration
-
DrizzleIntegration (2x, Var β=1.5)
-
DynamicCrop
-
DynamicBackgroundExtraction
duplicated each image and removed stars via StarXterminator. Ran DBE with a shitload of points to generate background model. model subtracted from original pic using the following PixelMath (math courtesy of /u/jimmythechicken1)
$T * med(model) / model
Luminance:
-
BlurXTerminator (correct only mode)
-
ArcsinhStretch + histogramtransformation to bring nonlinear
RGB:
-
ChannelCombinaiton to combine monochrome R, G, B stacks into color image
-
BlurXTerminator (correct only mode)
-
SpectroPhotometricColorCalibration
-
HSV Repair
-
MMT for large scale chrominance noise reduction
-
ArcsinhStretch + histogramtransformation to bring nonlinear
Nonlinear:
-
LRGBCombination with stretched L as luminance
-
Several CurveTransformations to adjust lightness, contrast, colors, saturation, etc.
-
DeepSNR Noise reduction
-
HistogramTransformations
-
More curves
-
Resample to 70%
-
Annotation
They at least have an ISS live stream going most of the time, but it's pretty boring at night or when they lose coverage
RIP my home button whenever my SE3 bites the dust
Good ol magnesium shit-rate
Wasn't expecting much with the last night's geomagnetic storm, but seeing the aurora come in on the camera was definitely an "oh shit" moment for me and my wife, especially when it got overexposed. The initial burst in the gif was very noticeable to the naked eye, despite our light pollution. Sadly it died down a bunch, but seems to have come back (although not as strong) after 3am (video timestamp is in UTC). Tonight definitely wont be as strong, but I'm hoping the camera might pick something up on another timelapse. Captured on May 10th, 2024 from Atlanta, GA
(probably) Better quality version on youtube
Places where I host my other images:
Equipment:
- ASI290mc + the all sky lens it comes with
Acquisition:
- looped 15" exposures at gain 160
Capture Software:
- Sharpcap
Processing:
- just PIPP to debayer and handbrake to convert it
I'm guessing it's called that because it's kinda headphone shaped. It was discovered in the 30's so I'm assuming only the brightest parts of the nebula were visible to the astronomers.
This image is a combination of false color narrowband images for the nebula itself, plus true color RGB stars (the nebula is mostly red and a little blue in true color). If you zoom in to the center you can see the very blue white dwarf that caused the planetary nebula to form. Also for those curious this is what a single 10 minute long Ha exposure looks like (image total is 83.5 hours exposure). Captured over 33 nights from Jan-May 2024 from a bortle 9 zone.
Places where I host my other images:
Flickr | Instagram
Equipment:
TPO 6" F/4 Imaging Newtonian
Orion Sirius EQ-G
ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro
Skywatcher Quattro Coma Corrector
ZWO EFW 8x1.25"/31mm
Astronomik LRGB+CLS Filters- 31mm
Astrodon 31mm Ha 5nm, Oiii 3nm, Sii 5nm
Agena 50mm Deluxe Straight-Through Guide Scope
ZWO ASI-290mc for guiding
Moonlite Autofocuser
Acquisition: 83 hours 30 minutes (Camera at -15°C), NB exposures at unity gain and BB at half unity
Ha - 238x600"
Oiii - 247x600"
R - 54x60"
G - 53x60"
B - 54x60"
Darks- 30
Flats- 30 per filter
Capture Software:
PixInsight Preprocessing:
BatchPreProcessing
StarAlignment
Blink
ImageIntegration per channel
DrizzleIntegration (2x, Var β=1.5)
Dynamic Crop
DynamicBackgroundExtraction 3x
Narrowband Linear:
Blur and NoiseXTerminator
StarXterminator to completely remove stars (to be later replaced by the RGB ones)
ArcsinhStretch to slightly stretch nonlinear
iHDR 2.0 script (low preset) to stretch each channel the rest of the way.
RGB Linear:
ChannelCombination to combine monochrome R G and B frame into color image
SpectroPhotometricColorCalibration
BlurXTerminator for star sharpening (correct only)
HSV Repair
StarXterminator to generate a stars-only image
ArcsinhStretch + HT to stretch nonlinear (to be combined with starless narrowband image later)
Invert > SCNR > invert to remove magentas
Curves to saturate the stars a bit more
Nonlinear:
NoiseX again
Background Neutralization
Shitloads of Curve Transformations to adjust lightness, hues, contrast, saturation, etc
even more curves
Pixelmath to add in the stretched RGB stars only image from earlier
Couple final curves
Resample to 65%
DynamicCrop
Annotation