View allAll Photos Tagged DeepSkyStacker
I spent 3 evenings trying to get this composition, and while the conditions were not ideal, this was the best result. Not only were thin clouds moving across the frame, especially where the comet is, but these were lit by light pollution from a town a few miles away. Plus, strong winds meant I had to stand as close and as still as possible to shield the tripod without touching it throughout each exposure!
15 x 2-min exposures at f/4.5 and ISO 3200 with an astro-modified EOS 600D and Samyang 24mm f/1.4 lens on a Vixen Polarie star tracker. The frames were stacked in DeepSkyStacker software, and the result post-processed to increase contrast and to reduce noise and colour gradients caused by light pollution. I also used Starnet++ to temporarily remove the stars (which otherwise dominate after stretching the contrast).
My first successful astro mosaic! It's a total of 380 minutes of imagery, 11 different panels, so panel integrations average 34 minutes. The Orion, Running Man, Horsehead, and Flame Nebulae area has the most imagery behind it, as well as the Witch Head Nebula.
Imagery was acquired in 2019 and 2020 on 9 different nights from the same location under rural skies (Bortle 3/4). All subs were taken with my Fuji X-T10 and Samyang 135 mm on the iOptron SkyTracker Pro. Each sub is 60 seconds, taken at ISO 1600 with the Samyang 135mm open to f2.
I integrated individual panels using DeepSkyStacker, and used the 'remove light pollution' tool of Astro Pixel Processor to flatten integrations, which had substantial vignetting from being shot at f2. These flattened panels were then mosaiced with Astro Pixel Processor using the process outlined here: www.astropixelprocessor.com/part-3-register-normalize-int.... Curves adjustment, star reduction, and color tweaking were then done with GIMP. This image is downscaled 50%.
It's not a perfect process and the data has issues, but I'm happy with the result. It was fun to explore the less-imaged nebulosity between the Orion and the Witch Head Nebulae, and around Saiph.
I'm sure I'll keep tinkering with this, and I still plan to shoot the entirety of Orion this winter, but this is a nice mosaic in and of itself, so I wanted to post it.
Aug. 2021 update: I've been looking through my astro photos, ramping up for some imaging this fall and winter (hopefully I'll complete this Orion mosaic). I decided this image could use a little lightening.
Shot from my front yard near Taos, New Mexico.
Equipment:
Celestron CGEM Mount
Nikon 500mm f/4 P Ai-S
Sony a7RIII (unmodified)
Altair 60mm Guide scope
GPCAM2 Mono Camera
Acquisition:
Taos, NM: my backyard - Bortle 3
44 x 135" for 1 hour 39 min and 44 sec of exposure time.
6 dark frames
15 flats frames
15 bais frames
Software:
SharpCap
DeepSkyStacker
Photoshop
Guided
My mount was polar aligned with SharpCap (what an amazing system for aligning). I then mounted my a7RIII and adapted Nikon 500mm f/4 P Ai-s lens to the top rail of my scope. I used SharpCap to achieve "excellent" polar alignment. I shot ISO 1600, f/5.6 and 135" exposures. I stacked lights/darks/flats/bias frames in deepskystacker. I then processed the TIFF file in photoshop stretching the file, minimal cropping and I used Astronomy Tools Action Set to help bring back star color and to enhance the diffraction spikes to make the brighter stars stand out better.
Stacked image from 14 shots using Deep Sky Stacker. Sony a6000 F1.4 16mm, each with 3-4 second exposures (short exposure times as the shots were taken on a cruise ship with very still waters).
#my_astrophotography
The #Fishhead_Nebula
IC 1795 - The Fish Head Nebula, also known as the Northern Bear Nebula, is part of a huge star forming system of gas and dust located along the Perseus spiral arm of our Milky Way galaxy.
The nebula is located in the constellation Cassiopeia approximately 6000 light-years from the Earth and is adjacent to the much larger Heart Nebula. The brighter region of IC 1795 is designated NGC 896 and is the home to many massive, young, stars.
Distance from Earth 6000 Light years.
Equipment :
152mm David H. Levy Comet Hunter
Mount
AZ-EQ5 GoTo Mount
Camera
ZWO ASI294 mc pro
Guide Camera
ZWO ASI120MC
Imaging Software
Astro Photography Tool
Stacked
DeePSkYStacker
Pixinsight
Lightroom
40 Light images
180 sec. Each
15 Flats
20 Dark
100 bias
Borlt 4/5
No filters
The Whirlpool Galaxy in Canes Venatici: astrobackyard.com/m51-whirlpool-galaxy/
This was an exciting project for me!
I've never had enough reach to do M51 justice before. This image was created by collecting LRGB exposures (5-minutes each) over several cold nights in March and April, 2020.
36 x 300-seconds Lum
9 x 300-seconds Red
12 x 300-seconds Green
15 x 300-seconds Blue
The images were stacked in DeepSkyStacker and processed entirely in Adobe Photoshop 2020.
I've recorded a 30-minute image-processing tutorial of the techniques used for this image that will be live in my image processing guide by the end of this week. If you've already downloaded it, remember to update to the new version (for free) this weekend to find it!
Clear skies!
The Orion Nebula (NGC 1976, M42) taken on a cold November night.
> The Orion Nebula is a diffuse nebula situated in the Milky Way, being south of Orion’s Belt in the constellation of Orion. It is one of the brightest nebulae, and is visible to the naked eye in the night sky. — Wikipedia
This image was created from around 30 exposures between 40 seconds and 3 minutes long, at ISO 800, Stacked in AstroPixelProcessor. I used the same data as in the original I shared, but using AstroPixelProcessor instead of DeepSkyStacker and some alternative processing. I prefer the colours in this one!
I used a SkyWatcher Esprit 100 telescope on a HEQ 5 Pro tracking mount, and the Nikon z 50 which coped admirably.
Con solo 1h e 10min di integrazione totale e temperatura del sensore 22°
-#85 in Explore 11/11/2016 (verificato 12/11/16 ore20:30)
Il 12/09/2015 acquisivo questo FOV con lo scopo di riuscire ad evidenziare anche le Nubi Molecolari che circondano il famosissimo ammasso aperto delle Pleiadi (M45). In questi casi occorrono cieli molto bui, una congrua integrazione e temperatura ambiente abbastanza bassa per chi utilizza le DSLR. Purtroppo velature e nubi mi avevano permesso di acquisire solo 14 frames da 300s: troppo poca l'integrazione di 1h e 10 min per pretendere qualcosa. Inoltre occorre ricordare che lo strumento fotografico era il teleobiettivo Zenit Jupiter-11A 135mm f4 (diametro obiettivo di 33,75 mm). flic.kr/p/MekcC7
Speravo in altre sessioni fotografiche per aumentare almeno l'integrazione totale, ma non sono stato fortunato.
Dopo un anno di inutile speranze ero comunque molto curioso di vedere cosa avrei potuto estrapolare da quei pochi frames. I frames combinati dal programma DeepSkyStacker (DSS) hanno creato il file.tif finale combinato, che mostrava appena un pò di nebulosità attorno a M45.
Il mio obiettivo erano le debolissime Nubi Molecolari quindi mi aspettava una elaborazione molto ardua!
E' stato necessario agire molto sulla regolazione livelli di PS e il forte "stretch" ha ovviamente evidenziato i limiti della poca integrazione. Non è stato facile controllare i diametri stellari e il rumore nei mezzitoni e nelle ombre . Questi effetti collaterali mi hanno costretto a lavorare molto con le selezioni e algoritmi riduci-rumore. Sapevo già che non potevo pretendere grande definizione dei dettagli.
Malgrado tutto l'obiettivo è stato raggiunto e mi ritengo molto soddisfatto del risultato finale, dove le debolissime Nubi Molecolari, presenti nella nostra Via Lattea, sono visibili.
Curiosità> Fa un certo effetto ripensare che fino a 15 anni fa con la fotografia analogica un risultato come questo era impensabile e irragiungibile con modesti strumenti.
___________
With only 1h and 10 min of total integration time and sensor temperature 22°C
-#85 on Explore 11/11/2016 (checked on 11.12.2016 8.30 pm)
On 09/12/2015 I acquired this FOV for the purpose too to be able to reveal the molecular clouds that surround the famous Pleiades open cluster (M45). In these cases it takes a long dark skies, a fair share integration and low enough ambient temperature for those who use DSLR. Unfortunately, clouds had allowed me to acquire only 14 frames of 300s: too little integration of 1h and 10 min to demand something. It is noted that the photographic instrument was the telephoto Zenit Jupiter-11A 135mm f4 (objective diameter of 33.75 mm). flic.kr/p/MekcC7
I was hoping for more photo sessions to increase at least the total integration, but I was not lucky.
After a year of futile hope I was however very curious to see what I could extrapolate from those few frames. The frames combined by DeepSkyStacker (DSS) program have created the final file.tif combined, which showed only a little nebulosity around M45.
My objective was very faint Molecular Clouds therefore waited for me a very arduous processing!
It was important to act on the adjustment levels of PS and the strong stretch has obviously revealed the limitations of little integration. It was not easy to control the stellar diameters and noise in the midtones and shadows. These adverse effects have forced me to work a lot with the selections and reduce noise algorithms. I already knew that I could not expect great detail definition.
Despite all, the purpose has been achieved and I am very pleased with the final result, where the faint Molecular Clouds, present in our Milky Way, are visible.
Curiosity> Makes a certain effect rethink that until 15 years ago with analog photography a result like this was unthinkable and unattainable with modest instruments.
_____________________________
Lens: Zenit Jupiter-11A 135mm f/4 flic.kr/p/MekcC7
Camera: Canon EOS 550D (Rebel T2i) mod. Baader BCF
Mount: Sky Watcher HEQ5 Synscan
Seeing 3 (scala Antoniadi inversa)
14x300s 1600iso / 21 dark / 21 flat / 21 bias
date 12/09/2015
temperature 16°C (media)
Temperature sensor: 22°C (media)
Integration 1h 10min
Location: monti Nebrodi, (Sicily-Italy) 1550m slm
Elaborazione DSS + PSCS3.
Finally an M31 image that isn't total garbage! This is 159 frames x 1.6 s, f/2.8, 6400 ISO (4 minutes 14 seconds total exposure). Shot at 125 mm, but should have been all the way at 200...I ended up applying a 2x drizzle in the processing. Not quite poster-worthy, but I'm improving.
18 x 1-minute exposures at ISO 6400.
Modified EOS 600D & Revelation 12" Newtonian reflector telescope.
Frames registered and stacked in DeepSkyStacker software; curves adjusted in Canon Photo Professional; noise reduction in CyberLink PhotoDirector.
Orion Nebula / Nebulosa de Orión (M42, Messier 42, NGC 1976)
Primer intento de captar la nebulosa de Orión sin montura guiada. Durante el mes de agosto la nebulosa hace su aparición a partir de las 4 de la mañana. El esfuerzo mereció la pena al obtener una definición decente al lanzar solo con montura estática.
First attempt to capture the Orion Nebula without a tracker. During the month of August the nebula makes its appearance from 4am. The effort was worth it, I got a good definition despite shooting with static mount.
- Date/Fecha: 19/08/2021
- Location/Lugar: Ermita Virgen del Madrigal - Villahoz (Burgos) (42°05'38.5"N 3°54'16.5"W)
GEAR/EQUIPO
- Manfrottto 190XPRO
- Camera Sony ILC3-A7M3 APS-C Mode
- Lens Sony FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS
IMAGE/IMAGEN:
- 200 Lights at 600mm, ISO 10000, 0,6seg, f6.3
- 88 Darks at ISO 10000, 0,6seg, f6.3
SOFTWARE
- Stacked with DeepSkyStacker
- Image viewer Adobe Bridge
- Image processing with Adobe Camera Raw and Adobe Photoshop CC
©2021 All rights reserved. MSB.photography
Thank all for your visit and awards.
On Explore 04/10/2021
I added some new exposures to my stack.
Total integration time is 155 minutes.
7x20 Sek. ISO3200
55x60 Sek. ISO800
29x120 Sek. ISO800
41x45 Sek. ISO800
30x20 Sek. ISO1600,
Darks, Bias, Stacking in DeepSkyStacker
TS-Optics APO 72, 432mm, Canon 550D (stock)
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My first BiColor Image is done!
I made some new O3 images and took the Halpha from my last image.
/// Setup
- Camera: Moravian G2-8300
- Telescope: Omegon 126/880 f/7 Triplet Apo
- Corrector: TS 2.5" Fullframe Corrector
- Mount: Losmandy G11 on Pier
- Guiding Camera: Starlite Xpress Lodestar X2
- Guiding Scope: TS Photoline 80/500 f/6.25 Triplet Apo
/// Software
- Capturing Software: Sequence Generator Pro / PHD2
- Processing Software: DeepSkyStacker / PixInsight 1.8
/// Image Integration
- Date: 24.09.17
- 5x900" O3 / bin 1x1 / -20°C
- Date: 21.09.17
- 7x900" H-alpha / bin 1x1 / -20°C
(3h 00min)
An unguided, black and white image of the Andromeda Galaxy taken last night over Monticello, NY through a Canon 400mm f/5.6 L lens using a Canon 7D MKII dslr camera on a Celestron AVX mount. Thirty 60 second images, twenty dark frames, and thirty eight bias frames were stacked using DeepSkyStacker, then enhanced with Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop Elements.
Camera – Fujifilm X-T20.
Lens – Jupiter 37A.
Mount – Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Mini.
ISO – 3200.
Stack of 108 lights 30" each.
30 darks.
30 biases.
------
Stacking in DeepSkyStacker.
Editing in SiriL and Adobe Photoshop.
This was just a quick 2 hours of data that I grabbed on a whim, as my actual target was too close to the moon to gather any useful data.
Quite happy with this process, even though, again, this was just a quick effort I smashed together at 1 AM when frankly I really should have been in bed ready for work at 7 AM.
This is my first attempt at an HDR image, so be kind.
10-sec subs for the core and 180-sec for the DSO.
All comments welcome.
Thanks
Acquisition Equipment
Camera - CANON EOS 60D (Mod)
Filter - Astronomik CLS-CCD EOS Clip
Telescope - SkyWatcher 80ED
Reducer/Flattener - 0.85x
Focal Length - 510mm
F Ratio - F6.3
Mount - Celestron CG-5 Adv GT GEM
Guide Scope - Celestron 9x50
Guide Camera - QHY 5 Mono
Image Capture
L 10 sec x 90 = 15min
D 50
F 30
FD 30
B 50
180 sec x 41 = 123mins
D 40
F 30
FD 30
B 50
Total = 138mins
Acquisition Software
Capture/Sequence - N.I.N.A.
Plate Solving - ASTAP
Guiding - PHD2
Planetarium - Stellarium
Processing Software
Stacking - DeepSkyStacker
Post - Adobe Photoshop / Bridge / Camera Raw
Links
Around 120, tracked, 60 second exposures of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), stacked in Deep Sky Stacker and processed in Adobe Photoshop.
Still very much a beginner at astrophotography, and honestly, it's the hardest thing I've ever done in photography.
Colour from the Andromeda Galaxy at 2.5 Million lightyears distance that is...
Reprocessed to crank more Colour out without strange side effects...... 100mm Esprit triplet APO Refractor telescope and Canon 6D full spectrum modified + Astronomik L (IR/UV cut) filter. 60x180sec at iso1600. 20 dark frames,20 flat frames and 20 bias frames used in Deepskystacker. Further processing in Pixinsight 1.8 (Dynamic background extraction, Background and Colour Calibration, Masked Stretch, HDRMultiscale Transform and curves transformation.)
Cropped to 16:9 aspect ratio.
Knight Observatory, Tomar
Press L (followed by F11) for the best view.
Taken with a TMB92L, Hutech-modified Canon T3i DSLR, Orion SSAG autoguider and 50mm guidescope, and Celestron AVX mount. Consists of 24 300-second light frames, all at ISO 800, as well as 30 flat and 100 bias frames. No darks. Captured with BackyardEOS, stacked in DeepSkyStacker, and processed in Photoshop.
First attempt of a stacked long time exposure and panorama of 60 frames.
Software: DeepSkyStacker + AutoPano
----------------------------
Erster Versuch einer gestackte Langzeitaufnahme und Panorama aus 60 Einzelbildern.
Software: DeepSkyStacker + AutoPano
The Dumbbell Nebula is a planetary nebula and is in the constellation Vulpecula, It’s ~1227 light years away from us. “Plantetary nebubla” is kind of a misnomer because it doesn’t have anything to do with planets, the gasses and colors come from a star that has shed its outer layers. If you squint or zoom in, you can see the white dwarf star in the middle. Charles Messier first noted it in his catalog of objects in the night sky as Messier Object 27 in 1764. The Dumbbell Nebula gets its name from English Astronomer John Herchel, who thought its shape resembled a dumbbell. - You can view this object with a small telescope, or even binoculars.
Equipment:
Celestron CGEM Mount
Nikkor 500mm f/4 P Ai-s at +1.4x Teleconverter (700mm) at f/8
Sony a7RIII (unmodified)
Altair 60mm Guide scope
GPCAM2 Mono Camera
Acquisition:
Taos, NM: my backyard - Bortle 3
25 x 180" for 1 hour 15 min and 25 sec of exposure time.
6 dark frames
15 flats frames
15 bais frames
Guided
Software:
SharpCap
PHD2
DeepSkyStacker
Photoshop
My mount was polar aligned with SharpCap (what an amazing system for aligning). I'm not comfortable using my SCT as my lens yet. My solution is to piggyback my Sony a7RIII and adapted Nikkor 500mm f/4 P Ai-s on a ADM dovetail rail on the top of my optical tube. For this I used a 1.4x teleconverter making the focal length 700mm at f/8. I used DeepSkyStacker to combine all frames and then processed the TIFF file in Photoshop. I stretched the 32 bit file and used Gradient XT on the image. I then made it a 16 bit file and stretched in level, then curves. I used the color sampler tool and levels to do my best to keep the background space black. I did mask the nebula and bring some color out on it, while not adding the color to the stars and deep space. I then using my skillset and relyed on Astronomy Tools Action Set, and dodging and burning a bit to give the image the finishing touches.
Taken w/ Skywatcher Evostar 80ED (w/.85X reducer), Nikon D3300, 100x30s Lights, ~100 bias, ~100 flats, 1600 ISO. Stacked in DeepSkyStacker and Post-processed in Photoshop.
This is a re-process of a very old set of data using some new post-processing software.
Nikon D3300, Nikkor 10-24mm @ 10mm, F/3.5, ISO 3200, 20 second exposure. 10 lights stacked in DeepSkyStacker & post-processed in Photoshop
I woke up early again for the comet. Yesterday I shared a photo that anyone could do with some basic photography gear. Today’s shot utilized the tracking abilities of my @celestronuniverse telescope. I followed the same steps as I do for my deep sky images, aligning my telescope’s mount to the celestial pole so it would track the sky accurately. I piggybacked my @sonyalpha a7rIII and adapted @nikonusa 500mm f/4 on the optical tube. I took 27 4-second exposures and stacked them together with dark, flat, and bias frames in DeepSkyStacker. The file created was processed in Photoshop. I’ll more than likely be waking up early again tomorrow morning.
This is my third attempt at photographing the Orion Nebula. Over the years I’ve used different star trackers and lenses with different results, and this is by far my best attempt, but I still have a lot to improve upon. I recently purchased a small telescope, the William Optics Zenithstar 61 refactor. That plus the iOptron SkyGuider Pro have worked out quite well, the telescope is small and light enough to work with the lightweight tracker. This is actually heavily cropped from the original framing. The Z61 telescope has a focal length of 360mm, which isn’t enough to really zoom in on the nebula, so I had to crop in significantly. But I did use 2x drizzle upscale resampling with DeepSkyStacker, so the file was 2x resolution from the original 24MP Nikon Z 6 file, so cropping in dramatically wasn’t as bad as it would have been without the upscaling.
The Orion Nebula (M42) is the big one, with Mairan’s Nebula (M43) sort of sticking out the top left side of M42, and then the Running Man Nebula (NGC 1975) is the other nebula in the top part of the frame. Lots of dust clouds are also visible in the background.
This image is a blend of 2 main images, both acquired on different nights. The Orion Nebula is difficult to photograph with one capture because the core of the nebula is easily blown out with the bright stars blocking the view, so two captures with different settings are often used to get a good exposure of the whole scene, with one capture blowing out M42’s core, and another capture to get a good exposure of just M42’s core.
Nikon Z 6 with FTZ lens adapter
William Optics Zenithstar 61 telescope
William Optics Flat61A flattener
iOptron SkyGuider Pro star tracker
Darker exposures for M42 core: 188 x 30 seconds @ ISO 100 — 94 minutes total
Brighter exposures: 84 x 60 seconds @ ISO 3200 — 84 minutes total
The 30s exposures were taken on a night with an almost full moon, so the ISO was much lower because the sky was so bright. The 60s exposures were taken without moonlight and so the signal needed to be boosted dramatically (very high ISO) to get above the noise.
I probably could have used significantly fewer darker exposures for M42’s core, but I captured those images when I was still figuring things out and thought the data might be good enough by itself to create the final image, but there was just way too much noise because I was exposing for the highlights, leaving the nebula and background buried in the electronic noise of the camera.
Both set of captures were stacked in DeepSkyStacker, running on a Windows 10 VM on my MacBook Pro. Then each resulting image was processed in PixInsight for color calibration and stretching, then they were blended in Photoshop, and final edits applied in Photoshop and PixInsight.
Visit my website to learn more about my photos and video tutorials: www.adamwoodworth.com
The object is rather overshadowed by its more famous neighbour, the Great Orion Nebula, M42, the edge of which is seen at bottom right here
11 x 4-minute manually off-axis guided exposures at ISO 1600.
Modified EOS 600D & Revelation 12" Newtonian reflector telescope.
Frames registered and stacked in DeepSkyStacker software; curves adjusted in Canon Photo Professional; noise reduction in CyberLink PhotoDirector.
Here is finally my first capture of M31 using a zoom lens and a tracking mount ! (I have been waiting it for a long time)
The photo itself is a stacking of 22 pictures of 1 minute of exposure time each. I wanted to increase the number of shots in order to reduce the digital noise but the fog came out.
Technical Datas :
Canon EOS 600D (unmodified)+ 70-300 mm Tamron lens + meade lxd75
22 x 60 secs exposure
ISO 1600
480 mm (with crop factor) + cropped image
F/6.3
JPEG images proccessed with DeepSkyStacker (the result is better with JPEG than TIFF !) + lightroom
My newly-created blog (french description): astroguigeek.blogspot.com/
2016 aug 12 03:00hr. Canon 5Dmk2 with 24mm f1.4 @ f4. 120 second exposure iso1600 tracked. Calibrated with Darks, Flats and Bias in Deepskystacker and processed in Pixinsight. The following 6 images (after this one) that i made show the dissolving smoke trail and i made a "video" that has to be watched in 720P :
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCrCTBNghvo
This was also Astrobin image of the day 19-aug-2016:
(Explore)
I almost continued work on my Orion mosaic last night, but ultimately decided to image the Cone Nebula region again. My previous image of this area from a year ago always bugged me - the focus was off and I didn't like the processing.
So I reshot this area last night - this time my focus was on, the skies were better, and I like the color I ended up with more. Not as happy with the framing, but at least the data is good so I can potentially add more data to this at a later date to improve framing or create a mosaic.
Fujifilm X-T10, Samyang 135mm f/2.0 ED UMC @ f2.0, ISO 1600, 47 x 60 sec, tracking with iOptron SkyTracker Pro, stacking with DeepSkyStacker, editing with Astro Pixel Processor and GIMP, taken on Jan. 13, 2021 under Bortle 3/4 skies.
I've been wanting to shoot this galaxy for awhile and I pulled out my gear last night to do it finally. It is to the south and pretty low, near the horizon. I have to shoot towards the town of Taos to get this galaxy. I was unaware of the star cluster, NGC 288 before I began shooting last night.
Equipment:
Celestron CGEM Mount
Nikkor 500mm f/4 P Ai-s at f/5.6
Sony a7RIII (unmodified)
Altair 60mm Guide scope
GPCAM2 Mono Camera
Acquisition:
Taos, NM: my backyard - Bortle 3
35 x 90" for 53 min and 5 sec of exposure time.
10 dark frames
15 flats frames
15 bais frames
Guided
Software:
SharpCap
PHD2
DeepSkyStacker
Photoshop
My mount was polar aligned with SharpCap (what an amazing system for aligning). I'm not comfortable using my SCT as my lens yet. My solution is to piggyback my Sony a7RIII and adapted Nikkor 500mm f/4 P Ai-s on a ADM dovetail rail on the top of my optical tube. I used DeepSkyStacker to combine all frames and then processed the TIFF file in Photoshop. I stretched the 32 bit file and used Gradient XT on the image. I then made it a 16 bit file and stretched in level, then curves. I used the color sampler tool and levels to do my best to keep the background space black. I then using my skillset and relied on Astronomy Tools Action Set, and dodging and burning a bit to give the image the finishing touches.
This image was created with 65 consecutive 30 second exposures stacked for the trails and 2 dark frames for noise reduction and 2 frames for the foreground detail. If you look carefully you can see Perseid meteors zooming through the frame as this was taken at the peak of the Perseid Meteor Shower pointing towards the radiant. One my favorite yearly astronomical events!
Images were stacked with Max Lyon's stacker program and then merged in PS. If I had my superwide Tokina 11-16 for this I could have included the N. Star, that would have rocked. For free stacking options (Lyon's program is very affordable at $17) there is this free Photoshop action. Other freebies you might want to try, especially if you need a stand alone if you don't have PS are here and here.
NGC281 PACMAN NEBULA
Found in Cassiopeia the pacman is a emission nebula, and i think the designation 'NGC281' is the open star cluster in the middle :)
The image shows the emission from hydrogen alpha in red (Mapped to the red channel in photoshop) and double-ionised oxygen in blue (mapped to blue).
This was done with my 80mm refractor and mono camera with ha filter and OIII filter. Combined in photoshop.
8x 600s Ha + 9 x 900s OIII + 7x darks (mixed exp lengths)
ED80 ATK16HR - EQ6. 8x50 finderguider.
Here is the Horsehead Nebula and Flame Nebula in Orion.
Behind the scenes (video) Video: youtu.be/8Jsg73B9DII
This image was captured using a DSLR camera (Canon EOS 60Da) and a William Optics Zenithstar 73 Refractor.
On Sunday night I collected data on two subjects, including this fading winter target!
24 x 5-minutes
ISO 1600
Canon EOS 60Da
William Optics Z73 Doublet
Radian Telescopes Triad Ultra Filter (2")
Sky-Watcher HEQ-5 Pro SynScan
Controlled using Astro Photography Tool
Autoguiding in PHD2
DeepSkyStacker
Photoshop 2020
One of my favorite regions of the sky - the Dark Shark Nebula (LDN 1235), LDN 1251, and the Wolf's Cave Nebula (vdB 152). It's a tricky region to process - the dust is faint and the stars are plentiful. If I shoot this again with the my Samyang 135, I think I'll stop down to f 2.8 to flatten the field and shoot 90-120 sec subs. I had problems with the not-too-flat field in post processing. I've cropped it to minimize the non-flat-field color artifacts.
Acquisition details: Fujifilm X-T10, Samyang 135mm f/2.0 ED UMC @ f2.0, ISO 1600, 84 x 60 sec, tracking with iOptron SkyTracker Pro, stacking with DeepSkyStacker, editing with Astro Pixel Processor and GIMP, taken August 14, 2020 from Bortle 2 skies.
Nov. 2020 update: I added my Sept. 26 2019 imagery (50 x 90 seconds, better color) to my 2020 imagery (84 x 60 seconds, better skies). There's still some color weirdness, but the addition of the 2019 with better color helped modulate the color weirdness of the 2020 data. I might still end up cropping it, but at least the color is a bit better. Perhaps I'll shoot this area again next August or Sept.
Telescope: William Optics ZenithStar 81 Refractor
Mount: Losmandy GM811G
Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI 2600MC Pro
Filter: Optolong L-Pro Filter
Site: Elk Grove, California, USA Bortle 6
Processing: DeepSkyStacker, Photoshop 2020
Calibration Files: None
Guiding: None
Used one of the -lately- rare clear skies nights to take some photographs of the Orion Nebula. Just used a tripod and a 300mm tele lens, so no real big "expenditure" ;-). No telescope, no tracking, For this result I have been taking some 70 shots (1 second exposure time each, at ISO 3200). Stacked these with DeepSkyStacker and applied a little fine tuning with Lightroom.
My first attempt of stacking photos
Negev desert, Israel
Nikon D610,
Samyang 14mm f/2.8
24 lights frames (f/3.5, ISO 3200, 25 sec.),
5 darks frames
14 biases frames
No flat frames
No guiding
Stacked in DeepSkyStacker
Finally some good weather here. Almost 3 hours with a stock DSLR. :)
Setup:
Telescope: Long Perng S400M-C 66mm /400mm
Camera: Nikon D5000
Mount: iOptron CEM25P
85x120s ISO 400
I tried to capture the Heart Nebula before but results were quite poor with the stock 550D. So I decided to modify my camera and turn it into a 550Da. I removed the infrared filter and results on (hydrogen) nebulae are way more promising now. I am happy that I took the risk and even more that my camera is still working after putting all cables and stuff back into place. 😀
Clear Skies!
Tech. data:
Canon 550Da
TS 72, 432mm, guided
100x100 sec (RGB) with CLS Filter
56 bias
25 darks
DeepSkyStacker, Gimp, Lightroom
I like this one better. The colors are nicer, however I'm struggling to get this in sharp focus. Multiple tries and none of them were very sharp. Focusing in the dark on stars is not easy for me, that's for sure.
This is 17 frames stacked in Deep Sky Stacker (20s, ISO3200, 260mm) with two dark frames, then processed in PixInsight (trial version) and Lightroom.
By the way, you can also glimpse the Running Man nebula near the top of the frame.
I was only able to get away from work for a brief period of time, so I couldn't wander too far away and get anything interesting in the foreground.
This is 39 photos taken at 200mm, F2,8, 1/2 second exposure, ISO 6400 and all stacked using Deep Sky Stacker, then processed in Lightroom.
Dreaming of M8...
As the lid continues to cover us here in the northeast - I reminisce of warm nights under a clear summer sky in the backyard.
Here is Messier 8, the Lagoon Nebula captured with the ZWO ASI294MC Pro back in August.
32 x 5-minutes at Unity Gain
Sky-Watcher Esprit 100: astrobackyard.com/sky-watcher-esprit-100-review/
ZWO ASI294MC Pro: astrobackyard.com/asi294mc-pro-review/
Optolong L-eNhance Filter: astrobackyard.com/optolong-l-enhance-filter/
Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro: astrobackyard.com/sky-watcher-eq6r-review/
DeepSkyStacker
Photoshop 2020
StarNet++
There was some cloud drifting across the lower part of the frame.
10 x 30-sec exposures at f/4 and ISO 6400. Astro-modified Canon EOS 600D and Tamron SP 90mm f/2.5 lens on a Vixen Polarie star tracker.
Frames stacked in DeepSkyStacker software; curves and colour balance adjusted in Canon Photo Professional; noise reduced using Cyberlink PhotoDirector.
Adding Color 📚 (Whirlpool Galaxy)
I've got a ways to go before I am happy with my LRGB process. It was REALLY satisfying to add color to the luminance data on this gorgeous galaxy.
Some seriously noisy areas - I went a little crazy with saturation without masking and just generally careless and wild in the processing.
Only about an hour in each color filter, but I couldn't resist bringing it all together.
8 x 300-seconds LUM
9 x 300-seconds RED
12 x 300-seconds GREEN
15 x 300-seconds BLUE
Starlight Xpress SX-42
SW Esprit 150
SW EQ8-R Pro
Astronomik LRGB set
DeepSkyStacker
Photoshop 2020
Thanks for looking guys, clear skies!