View allAll Photos Tagged StarryLandscapeStacker
Away for the weekend to the family farm, it was meant to be cloudy and wet .. well it wasn't .. there were a lot of stars thou :-)
Pentax K1 w Irix 21/1.4
ISO3200 f/3.5 8s x 24 frames
Raw developed in DxO PhotoLab to .dng, stacked in Starry Landscape Stacker to .tiff, back to PhotoLab 6 for some masking and adjustments, colour graded in Color Efex Pro 5, light touch in Topaz AI before finally landing back in PhotoLab.
Grafton, NSW, Australia
Nearly everything you see while looking at a cloud-free night sky is in our home galaxy, the Milky Way. The Moon and the naked-eye visible planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) are neighbours of our Earth in the Solar System. Beyond these local friends, every star–from bright Sirius to those only visible using averted vision–is a more distant member of our local community. You can count the naked-eye objects located beyond the solar system on one hand (even a Simpson’s hand).
Two of these extra-galactic companions are visible year-round from where I live in the Southern Hemisphere. Named for the explorer on whose round-the-world voyage western eyes first saw them, the “Magellanic Clouds” are dwarf galaxies travelling with the Milky Way as we orbit in the Local Group of galaxies. I photographed the wispy wonders in the pre-dawn sky at Narooma, Australia, in late January 2023.
To create this scene, I shot fifteen single-frame photos (10x light and 5x dark, for those who care) and used the app Starry Landscape Stacker to reduce digital noise in the final image. For each of those individual shots, I used my Canon EOS 6D Mk II camera and a Sigma 35mm f/1.4 Art lens @ f/2.2, opening the shutter for 13 seconds @ ISO 6400.
When the night is darkest
Open up your mind
Dream begins it's becoming clearer
Listen to the distant
Listen and you'll find
A midnight train is getting nearer
Starlight Express ~ El DeBarge
Nash Point Lighthouse, near Marcross in South Wales
Made from 6 light frames with 3 dark frames by Starry Landscape Stacker 1.8.0. Algorithm: Mean Min Hor Noise
Nash Point Lighthouse, near Marcross in South Wales
Made from 16 light frames with 3 dark frames by Starry Landscape Stacker 1.8.0. Algorithm: Min Horizon Star Dupe
On the last Friday night in June, I headed out from my home in Sydney, Australia, to the southern tablelands region of New South Wales. My first stop was at a farming locality known as Big Hill, a drive of about 180 km (110 mi) from home.
With the Milky Way’s galactic core almost overhead, I pointed my camera northward to take in the view over the foggy fields of Big Hill. I’m not sure, but I think that little hill in the distance might be THE Big Hill. The few large puddles that formed the small creek in the foreground excelled at reflecting the starlight for me to capture. The Milky Way’s galactic core might not be in the photo, but there was plenty of interstellar dust-lane detail in the northern heavens to add interest to the scene.
The distinctive green hue in the sky was generated by the natural phenomenon known as atmospheric airglow. Human eyes can’t detect colour in low-light conditions, so I wasn’t able to see the greenness myself, but my camera certainly could. To me, the background sky was visibly brighter than the deep darkness that I’ve witnessed at lots of other light-pollution-free locations, and that brightness is usually a sure indicator of there being lots of airglow overhead.
To create this image, I blended three individual shots in a process known as “stacking”, which helps to reduce the amount of digital noise in the final photo and also removed unevenness in my foreground lighting. For each of those three single photos, I shot with my Canon EOS 6D Mk II camera, a Samyang 14mm f/2.4 lens @ f/2.8, using an exposure time of 25 seconds @ ISO 3200.
A 'temporal' edit from that sunrise I did a couple of weeks back at Bass Point, Shellharbour.
Fleshed out the bones of this one and gave it time to mature before finishing it off.
Olympus OM-1 w M.Zuiko 12-40/2.8 Pro
ISO200 f/3.5 60s x one frame - foreground
ISO1250 f/3.5 4s x 20 frames - sky
All frames raw developed in DxO PhotoLab 7, sky frames stacked in Starry Landscape Stacker.
Foreground and sky stacked and blended in Affinity Photo 2, tweaked in Nik 6 Viveza, tweaked in Topaz AI and finished off back in PhotoLab.
4 (iii).
The photograph WITHOUT any distracting labels or arrows.
On September 19, 2020 the apparent angular distance between Jupiter and Saturn was 7° 19′.
The two planets’ apparent angular distance was close enough throughout 2020, as their apparent positions on the sky approached closer and closer until their “Great Conjunction,” to occur on December 21, 2020 (at the winter solstice). During the Great Conjunction, the two gas giants’ apparent angular distance on the sky will be only 6′, or one tenth ( 1/10 ) of a degree, or one fifth (1/5) of the lunar diameter approximately.
In this shot captured on Sep. 19, 2020, the two planets are viewed at an altitude of 27° above horizon, over the lofty rock formations called Meteora in Greece. The Holy Trinity monastery (abbey) is also viewed and so, too, is part of the Milky Way and of the Sagittarius constellation (its π [pi] & σ [sigma] stars are marked by arrows, for reference). Light pollution is markedly evident below-left and below-right (beams), as the rock formatoins were illuminated by gigantic projectors and the city lights were on in Kalampaka.
Meteora is the name of the group comprising many impressive and lofty rock formations: The height of the sandstone megaliths ranges between 1,000-2,067 ft (300-630 m). The rock masses were formed 60 million years ago, are geologically unique and listed in UNESCO world heritage sites.
This is the 4th of the shots’ series dedicated to Jupiter and Saturn in 2020, all shot with the same Canon EOS RP camera and with a 24mm focal length. Here are dates and apparent angular distances of all shots:
#1. May 13: 6° 6′
#2. May 23: 4° 0′ 6″
#3. Sep 8: 8° 17′
#4. Sep 19: 7° 19′ ( This shot )
#5 & #6. Oct 17: 6° 3′
#7. Oct 22: 5° 2′
Camera Settings:
Canon EOS RP
Canon RF24-105mm F4 L IS USM @ 24mm
Sky:
ISO 8000 - f/4 - 13 sec × 40 stacked by Starry Landscape Stacker - min hor low noise algorithm for the stars
Foreground:
ISO 800 - f/1.4 - 50-105 sec × 6 (the mean of 6 layers stacked in order to reduce noise)
City of Rocks State Park, NM.
Made from 23 light frames (captured with a NIKON CORPORATION camera) by Starry Landscape Stacker 1.5.1.
Sometime around the year 964 AD, a Persian astronomer named Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi made the earliest recorded sighting of what we now call the Andromeda Galaxy, describing it as a “nebulous smear” [Source: Wikipedia]. Since then, this smudge on the night sky has been thought by observers to be a variety of astronomical objects. Astronomers have estimated it to be at a wide range of distances from the Earth. As recently as 2019 the mass of the “Andromeda Nebula” when compared to our home galaxy, the Milky Way, was revised in line with new data from measurements of both galaxies.
Aside from the physical characteristics of the object, the ancient observer’s smear is renowned for its visual beauty. My little photo here doesn’t do justice to the details, colours or shape of the giant spiral that is moving through space, at a distance from Earth of 2.5 million light-years or so. Still, I do love to photograph M31 (as it’s commonly known) when I can and hope to see it someday from our Northern Hemisphere. The view of M31 there is much better than the atmospherically-blurred look that I get in my part of Australia.
This photo of M31 was taken west of Nowra, Australia, and is what is known as a “stacked” image. I shot twelve consecutive “light” frames of the scene, then took another 12 with my camera’s lens cap in place (known as “dark” frames). Next, I processed the light frames in Adobe’s Lightroom Classic Software, then made use of an app called Starry Landscape Stacker to remove a lot of the digital noise present in the original shots. I used my Canon EOS 6D Mk II camera, a Yongnuo 50mm f/1.4 lens @ f/1.8, using an exposure time of 4.0 seconds @ ISO 6400, to capture the original images.
Maybe an apt title for this is:
"No Dogs Allowed. Comets Every 80,000 Years"
This was a second (and last) attempt to capture the C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan–ATLAS over Lake Huron.
I posted a first attempt where I used my 55-250 zoom and realized I didn't need to zoom much at all. On this attempt, I used my nifty fifty and was able to frame a shot.
I also used Starry Landscape Stacker to get a little more presence out of the comet but, to be honest, the individual shots were pretty good on their own. I ended up stacking 20 shots where the comet was in the upper right of the frame.
I shot this at:
50mm
f2.2
3.2s
ISO 1600
I tried to get a foreground object and had a nice shot of this post and some grass leading to lake before realizing that I had framed a shot that likely would not get the comet when it became visible. I needed to change my composition and dealt with a foreground that was not to my exact choosing.
I did mask a clearer shot of the sign in but just a little. I left the grasses out of focus and most of the post as well.
7 (i). Oct 22, 2020
On October 22, 2020 a triple conjunction of Jupiter, Moon and Saturn occurred; this is a photograph of the conjunction above the “Great Meteoron” abbey (monastery), Greece, at 20:28’ hrs (local time).
Jupiter is viewed above and to the right of the Moon with an apparent anglular distance between them of less than three-and-a-half degrees (3° 29′). The 41% illuminated Waxing Crescent Moon was 5.9 days old.
Saturn is viewed above and to the left of Jupiter, with a 5° 2′ apparent angular distance between them. This year the two bright giants’ conjunction continuously gets closer and closer until the closest “Great Conjunction” (aka the Star of Bethleem or Christmas Star) is expected to shine on December 21, at the Winter Solstice!
Part of the Sagittarius constellation is viewed above the abbey and to the right of the triple conjunction (with the “pi Sagittarii” star directly to the right of bright Jupiter).
The “Great Meteoron” monastery (abbey) was founded in c.1340–1348 AD. It is dedicated to the Transfiguration (aka Metamorphosis) of the Saviour. It is located on the 2,011 ft (613 m) high rock called Platys Lithos. The impressive and lofty rock formations are collectively known as Meteora: The sandstone megaliths’ height varies 1,000-2,067 ft (300-630 m). The rock masses were formed 60 million years ago, are geologically unique and listed in UNESCO world heritage sites.
This is a composite shot created by stacking 12 light frames. The median of three long-exposure shots was used for the foreground (the abbey), in the non-silhouette version of this composite photograph.
Camera Settings:
Canon EOS RP
Sigma 24mm f/1.4 DG HSM “Art”
Sky: ISO 6400 - f/1.4 - 1/8 sec × 12 stacked by Starry Landscape Stacker - mean min hor low noise algorithm for the stars
Foreground: ISO 800 - f/1.4 - 20 sec × 3 (the median of the 3 layers stacked together to reduce noise)
5 (i). Oct 17, 2020
The photograph WITH explanatory labels and arrows pointing to the planets and the abbey.
The Milky Way lies vertical, much like a celestial ladder, with its core barely visible above horizon. Our galaxy’s core bids farewell to all of us in the north hemisphere, as it will remain invisible throughout the winter months ahead. There are four hundred billion (400,000,000,000 or 4×10¹¹) stars in it. The apparent angular distance between Jupiter and Saturn is only 6° 3'.
In the foreground, the deserted Hypapantē (Candlemas) abbey is seen. It is nested within the rock formation at a height of 230 ft (70 m) above ground. The monastery dates back to 1367 and was destroyed by fire on 1809 on a local Ottoman bully’s instructions (based in Ioannina). It was restored in 2000.
Meteora is the name of the group comprising many impressive and lofty rock formations: The height of the sandstone megaliths ranges between 1,000-2,067 ft (300-630 m). The rock masses which were formed 60 million years ago are geologically unique and listed in UNESCO world heritage sites.
Still blowing last night, but Milky Way Season is just about over and it was a cloudless night.. just a matter of finding somewhere out of the wind .. right?
It was just a light breeze down at the 'Boneyard' , Kiama and I'd been hoping the breeze would be offshore taking any sea mist away with it. Didn't quite work out that way, being in the shadow of the headland the breeze was onshore instead .. not that it mattered in the end the light pollution from Port Kembla/Wollongong is a bit overpowering here at night.
Ocean was flatter than Lake Illawarra, with a very low tide made for nice place to hang for an hour or so.
Not a fantastic image but here 'tis all the same.
Pentax K1 w Irix 21/1.4
ISO5000 f/2.2 x 90 frames (yeah 90) 8sec per frame.
Vertical Panorama (3 rows) 30 frames per row.
Frames raw developed in DxO PhotoLab6 to .dng
Stacked in Starry Landscape Stacker and Starry Sky Stacker (Mac)
Resultant three frames pano stitched in Affinity Photo2
Tweaked in Topaz AI
Bit of Perspective tweaking in Nik6 Perspective Effects
And finally finished off back in PhotoLab. (Colour grading was added before exporting to .dng).
Away for the weekend to the family farm, it was meant to be cloudy and wet .. well it wasn't .. there were a lot of stars thou :-)
Pentax K1 w Irix 21/1.4
ISO3200 f/3.5 8s x 24 frames
Raw developed in DxO PhotoLab to .dng, stacked in Starry Landscape Stacker to .tiff, back to PhotoLab 6 for some masking and adjustments, colour graded in Color Efex Pro 5, light touch in Topaz AI before finally landing back in PhotoLab.
Grafton, NSW, Australia
#4 (iv)
Foreground as dark as SILHOUETTE version.
On September 19, 2020 the apparent angular distance between Jupiter and Saturn was 7° 19′.
The two planets’ apparent angular distance was close enough throughout 2020, as their apparent positions on the sky approached closer and closer until their “Great Conjunction,” to occur on December 21, 2020 (at the winter solstice). During the Great Conjunction, the two gas giants’ apparent angular distance on the sky will be only 6′, or one tenth ( 1/10 ) of a degree, or one fifth (1/5) of the lunar diameter approximately.
In this shot captured on Sep. 19, 2020, the two planets are viewed at an altitude of 27° above horizon, over the lofty rock formations called Meteora in Greece. The Holy Trinity monastery (abbey) is also viewed and so, too, is part of the Milky Way and of the Sagittarius constellation (its π [pi] & σ [sigma] stars are marked by arrows, for reference). Light pollution is markedly evident below-left and below-right (beams), as the rock formatoins were illuminated by gigantic projectors and the city lights were on in Kalampaka.
Meteora is the name of the group comprising many impressive and lofty rock formations: The height of the sandstone megaliths ranges between 1,000-2,067 ft (300-630 m). The rock masses were formed 60 million years ago, are geologically unique and listed in UNESCO world heritage sites.
This is the 4th of the shots’ series dedicated to Jupiter and Saturn in 2020, all shot with the same Canon EOS RP camera and with a 24mm focal length. Here are dates and apparent angular distances of all shots:
#1. May 13: 6° 6′
#2. May 23: 4° 0′ 6″
#3. Sep 8: 8° 17′
#4. Sep 19: 7° 19′ ( This shot )
#5 & #6. Oct 17: 6° 3′
#7. Oct 22: 5° 2′
Camera Settings:
Canon EOS RP
Canon RF24-105mm F4 L IS USM @ 24mm
ISO 8000 - f/4 - 13 sec × 40 stacked by Starry Landscape Stacker - min hor low noise algorithm for the stars
Milky Way August 8th morning at 12:15am from Mahoney Lake, Okanagan-Similkameen, BC, Canada. A meteor showed up on this very calm night. This was a stack and blend of 19 images using a 14mm lens, and experimenting with editing techniques to enhance the final image.
The Orion constellation is a well-known feature of my Southern Hemisphere's night skies, and the most familiar shape within the whole grouping of stars is commonly referred to here as "The Saucepan". On a flight to France in late 2015, I woke in the dark hours and slid up the window blind to see Orion oriented the way people in the top half of the world see it. Whichever way you're used to looking at Orion, the constellation is a pretty sight.
A few minutes after the sky had entered Astronomical Twilight last Saturday morning (March 16th), I photographed Orion as it hung low over the mountains west of Berry, New South Wales, Australia. Not only did my shots capture most of the stars in Orion, but I was chuffed to see that the Great Nebula the constellation is known for, aka "M42", was also visible. If you pinch to zoom the photo on your phone or enlarge it in your web browser, you'll see the pinkish flame-like shape of the nebula in the top-left quarter of my shot. M42 is one of the most-photographed and intensely studied of nebulae, for its visual beauty and what it has revealed to astronomers and astrophysicists about the processes that take place when new stars form. You can also see the stars Rigel and Betelgeuse at the far-left and far-right sides of the frame, respectively, and Betelgeuse's orange glow is reflected in one of the tiny pools in the lower half of the scene.
I employed the photographic process of "stacking" to reduce the digital noise in the final photo, combining seven single-frame images that I shot with a Canon EOS 6D Mk II camera, a Yongnuo 50mm f/1.4 lens @ f/2.0, using an exposure time of 6.0 seconds @ ISO 6400.
The planet Jupiter is seen as the brightest “star” in the middle of the frame (lower part), at a +17° 20’ altitude above the horizon (azm +142° 20’).
The constellation Scorpio is visible to the right of Jupiter. Antares is its brightest and most famous star, with a reddish hue, seen at a 19° 39’ altitude above the horizon (azm +158° 08’).
The Milky Way should have been visible as a horizontal band below Jupiter, with the galactic centre at a 10.5° altitude above the local horizon (azm +143.6°); instead, a luminous cloud is all that one can see, because of the light pollution.
Photograph shot at 01:31’ hrs AM on May 06, 2019 — camera’s GPS-coordinates provided (40° 30’ 3.50” N, 23° 14’ 2.4” E). The village Sēmantra is seen, some 18 km away from the camera.
At the moment of capturing this shot:
•Jupiter’s distance from earth was ~ 4.48 AU ( ≈ 670.2×10⁶ km ≈ 416.4×10⁶ miles)
•Antares’s distance from our sun was ~ 553.8 light-yrs ( ≈ 5.24×10¹⁵ km ≈ 3.26×10¹⁵ miles)
In order to reduce the high-ISO noise, the photograph shown was produced by stacking 14 images shot in rapid burst, each exposed at f/4.0 - 8 sec - ISO 3200.
Made from 14 light frames by Starry Landscape Stacker 1.8.0. Algorithm: Min Horizon Noise
Made from 11 light frames with 3 dark frames by Starry Landscape Stacker 1.5.1.
This is just a little further up from the Brecon Beacons Visitor Centre.
Nikon D7100
Tokina 11-16 f2.8
11mm for
Lights - 30sec x 11 and x3 Darks
Made from 13 light frames (captured with a NIKON CORPORATION camera) with 3 dark frames by Starry Landscape Stacker 1.5.1.
The last night of our Olympic Peninsula exploration I ventured back up to Crescent Lake to capture a shot of the stars. This shot taken on the shore at the Crescent Lake Lodge facing north shows the orange glowing light cast from the nearly full moon as it began to peak over the mountain tops.
One of my goals on our recent trip to New Zealand was to see and photograph the starry southern sky. We were there for three weeks, and only one night had a clear sky. Fortunately, we were staying in the small town of Methven.
Around 9 pm I gathered my camera and tripod and walked out of town, past the last street light, and out into a field.
Sitting on the damp ground, I spent the next hour shooting the stars. I was using my little Sony RX100-iii, a point and shoot camera never intended for star photography. I made ten images of each patch of the sky so I could stack and median-filter them to reduce noise when I got home.
The Milky Way was directly above, in a band that stretched from the southeast horizon to the northwest. Lying on my back with my feet pointed to the southwest, it appeared as a straight line from horizon to horizon.
I used StarryLandscapeStacker to merge the stacks of each segment and then used PTGui Pro to stitch them together. This was not very successful, and I had to make some manual adjustments in Photoshop. As star shots go, what I got is not that great. But considering the equipment, it came out about as well as possible.
On the left (southern) side, you can see the Southern Cross (maybe, I'm not sure). The large Magellanic Cloud is visible on the bottom of the image. and On the right, in the far north, is the Orion constellation, upside down from the way I usually see it in North America.
Tomorrow I will post another Milky Way shot that I took a few days ago in New Mexico, quite different from this one.
First time going up to Glacier Point Road. Usually closed when we go. Laowa 17mm 20 some shots merged in Starry landscape stacker for noise reduction. Also used some variety of ink plugins to finish. Wish less clouds but oh well.
Longest file name to date: "K1__3005_DxO-Min Horizon Star Dupe_K1__3029_DxO-Min Horizon Star Dupe_aff-DeNoiseAI-standard.jpeg"
3 x 12 frames vert'o'rama from a bit further along the beach .. just to see if I could do it to be honest ... I'm as happy with this one as I was with the others...
Pentax K1 w Irix 21/1.4
ISO3200 f/2 8s
Raw developed in DxO PhotoLab and saved as .dng files. Stacked in StarryLandscape Stacker, stitched in Panorama Stitcher (Mac OS), taffy pulled in Affinity Photo 2 with a few errant pixels tidied up.
Topaz AI for a light clean, with a final stop back in PhotoLab.
This is a composition blending two images taken at the same general area Writing On Stone Provincial Park. The milkyway is a stack of 29 MW images and 13 dark frames compiled in starrylandscapestacker and a single blue hour image of the hoodoo. Blended in Photoshop, my attempt at a sky replacement.
Northern hemisphere folk have been enjoying a celestial show over the past week or more, in the form of a naked-eye-visible comet. The celestial sojourner has a name that is, per astronomical good-practice, totally unromantic and very clinical. "Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE" — or just NEOWISE for short, is what's written on its name tag. The name came from the NASA mission that discovered it, also called NEOWISE, for Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. You can hit up Google–or your favourite search engine–to find thousands of photos of this beautiful addition to the northern summer's skies.
OK, that Public Service Announcement out of the way, I can now go on to tell you about my less-exciting-than-a-comet photo. The image features the Milky Way's neighbouring galaxy M31, aka the "Andromeda Galaxy". I need to explain that the word "neighbouring" has a different scale about it in the realm of astronomy. M31 is around 2.5 million light-years from our home planet and is one of the most distant objects that mere mortals can see with our unaided eyes. That's not the kind of neighbour to whom you can pay a quick visit to borrow some tools or a cup of sugar, but in the scale of things in the universe, it's nearby.
My photo was created by taking two shots of the same scene, which I then processed through what is known as "stacking" software to reduce the digital noise in the image and try to enhance the details of the distant galaxy.
I took the two images using my Canon EOS 6D Mk II camera, a Yongnuo 50mm f/1.4 lens @ f/1.8, using an exposure time of 6.0 seconds @ ISO 3200. The software used to make the final stacked image is called "Starry Landscape Stacker".
This is my first attempt at Milky Way photography, so I'm still figuring out how to process this type of image. This an image made in the middle of the night during the New Moon (August 2nd). It was a pretty cool experience when I wasn't creeping out over the various wildlife noises - to be safe, I'd call out "Hey Bear!" when some of the noises seemed uncomfortably close... :-O
Image made with my Olympus OM-D e-M1 mk2 with the m.Zuiko 8mm Fisheye Pro lens with the setup mounted on my MeFoto Globetrotter tripod. 15 exposures, each 25s at ISO3200. I then used Starry Landscape Stacker to combine the images and this did a wonderful job eliminating any noise in the sky! Foreground is ISO1600 | 20s | f1.8. Stacked images were exported with foreground mask into On1 Photo RAW 19.6 and I used its Layers functionality to process and combine the images. CC is always welcome!
#m43ftw #getolympus #whatnoise #buffalove #inthebuff #8mm #fisheye #milkyway #starrylandscapestacker #mefoto #longexposure #longexpo #longexpoelite #griffis #astrophotography #landscape #night #nightskies #stars #behindthelens
#ccwelcome
Part of the Conjunction Magnified: Jupiter & Moon only
On October 22, 2020 a triple conjunction of Jupiter, Moon and Saturn occurred; this is a photograph of the conjunction above the “Great Meteoron” abbey (monastery), Greece, at 20:28’ hrs (local time).
Jupiter is viewed above and to the right of the Moon with an apparent anglular distance between them of less than three-and-a-half degrees (3° 29′). The 41% illuminated Waxing Crescent Moon was 5.9 days old.
Saturn’s apparent angular distance from Jupiter was 5° 2′. That was too large a distance for Saturn to fit in the same frame.
Canon EOS M50
Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 100mm ( × 1.6 crop factor = 160 mm )
ISO 6400 - f/7,1 - 1/320 sec
Jupiter and its larger 4 moons shot without a telescope, at a 22° 52’ altitude above the horizon of Salonica (Thessalonikē), Greece (azm +204° 57’).
Jupiter was quite close to Earth (4.28 AUs only or 397,850,856 miles / 640,278,888 km) when the photos were captured. The gas giant will be even closer during June 10th, 2019 (opposition).
The 300mm focal length of the lens used on the mirrorless camera with an APS-C sensor (×1.6 crop factor) was equivalent to 480mm of a 35-mm (full-frame) camera. So, the end result was a little bit more magnified than what the naked (unaided) eye can see.
Jupiter’s larger moons shot are the satellites: Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.
Eighteen f/5.6—1 sec—ISO 1600 frames were stacked (by Starry Landscape Stacker 1.8.0 software, algorithm: Min Horizon Noise) for a lower-noise composite image to be created. Some cropping of the latter resulted into this final photograph.
Milky Way Appearing over Bell and Courthouse Rocks. Stack of 12 images for night sky, single image for the foreground. First try at this!
On October 22, 2020 a triple conjunction of Jupiter, Moon and Saturn occurred; this is a photograph of the conjunction above the “Great Meteoron” abbey (monastery), Greece, at 20:28’ hrs (local time).
Jupiter is viewed above and to the right of the Moon with an apparent anglular distance between them of less than three-and-a-half degrees (3° 29′). The 41% illuminated Waxing Crescent Moon was 5.9 days old.
Saturn is viewed above and to the left of Jupiter, with a 5° 2′ apparent angular distance between them. This year the two bright giants’ conjunction continuously gets closer and closer until the closest “Great Conjunction” (aka the Star of Bethleem or Christmas Star) is expected to shine on December 21, at the Winter Solstice!
Part of the Sagittarius constellation is viewed above the abbey and to the right of the triple conjunction (with the “pi Sagittarii” star directly to the right of bright Jupiter).
The “Great Meteoron” monastery (abbey) was founded in c.1340–1348 AD. It is dedicated to the Transfiguration (aka Metamorphosis) of the Saviour. It is located on the 2,011 ft (613 m) high rock called Platys Lithos. The impressive and lofty rock formations are collectively known as Meteora: The sandstone megaliths’ height varies 1,000-2,067 ft (300-630 m). The rock masses were formed 60 million years ago, are geologically unique and listed in UNESCO world heritage sites.
This is a composite shot created by stacking 12 light frames. The median of three long-exposure shots was used for the foreground (the abbey), in the non-silhouette version of this composite photograph.
Camera Settings:
Canon EOS RP
Sigma 24mm f/1.4 DG HSM “Art”
Sky: ISO 6400 - f/1.4 - 1/8 sec × 12 stacked by Starry Landscape Stacker - mean min hor low noise algorithm for the stars
Foreground: ISO 800 - f/1.4 - 20 sec × 3 (the median of the 3 layers stacked together to reduce noise)
4 (i). Sep 19, 2020
The photograph WITH explanatory labels and arrows pointing to the 2 planets, stars, the abbey etc.
On September 19, 2020 the apparent angular distance between Jupiter and Saturn was 7° 19′.
The two planets’ apparent angular distance was close enough throughout 2020, as their apparent positions on the sky approached closer and closer until their “Great Conjunction,” to occur on December 21, 2020 (at the winter solstice). During the Great Conjunction, the two gas giants’ apparent angular distance on the sky will be only 6′, or one tenth ( 1/10 ) of a degree, or one fifth (1/5) of the lunar diameter approximately.
In this shot captured on Sep. 19, 2020, the two planets are viewed at an altitude of 27° above horizon, over the lofty rock formations called Meteora in Greece. The Holy Trinity monastery (abbey) is also viewed and so, too, is part of the Milky Way and of the Sagittarius constellation (its π [pi] & σ [sigma] stars are marked by arrows, for reference). Light pollution is markedly evident below-left and below-right (beams), as the rock formatoins were illuminated by gigantic projectors and the city lights were on in Kalampaka.
Meteora is the name of the group comprising many impressive and lofty rock formations: The height of the sandstone megaliths ranges between 1,000-2,067 ft (300-630 m). The rock masses were formed 60 million years ago, are geologically unique and listed in UNESCO world heritage sites.
This is the 4th of the shots’ series dedicated to Jupiter and Saturn in 2020, all shot with the same Canon EOS RP camera and with a 24mm focal length. Here are dates and apparent angular distances of all shots:
#1. May 13: 6° 6′
#2. May 23: 4° 0′ 6″
#3. Sep 8: 8° 17′
#4. Sep 19: 7° 19′ ( This shot )
#5 & #6. Oct 17: 6° 3′
#7. Oct 22: 5° 2′
Camera Settings:
Canon EOS RP
Canon RF24-105mm F4 L IS USM @ 24mm
Sky:
ISO 8000 - f/4 - 13 sec × 40 stacked by Starry Landscape Stacker - min hor low noise algorithm for the stars
Foreground:
ISO 800 - f/1.4 - 50-105 sec × 6 (the mean of 6 layers stacked in order to reduce noise)
Pointe Saint-Mathieu
Nikon D610 - 24 mm - f1.8 - 3200 iso - 15x5 sec
Logiciel d'empilement : StarryLandscapeStacker
Logiciel de retouche : Darktable
Astrophotography presents a unique set of challenges for the photographer. Here I will try to shed some light (pun!) on one of them. Say you’ve found a place with dark sky on a moonless night and put your camera on a tripod, with the lens wide open and ISO pumped way up high. If you take only one long exposure, you will find a lot of noise in the image. The simple explanation for this is that increasing ISO just amplifies the weak signal from the sensor. Every sensor has a signal-to-noise ratio, and what is known as a noise floor. In total darkness, the sensor puts out a random noise pattern (noise floor), which will be visible in the image with sufficient amplification. That’s Electronics 101.
To the extent that the noise is random over time for a given pixel, you can alleviate the problem by taking several frames and averaging the signal for each pixel. The noise will tend to decrease in the average, while a real signal won’t. This is the principle behind median filtering. (Nerd note: “median” and “average” aren’t quite the same thing, but for our purpose here we’ll consider the terms interchangeable.)
If you decide to try this approach, the question arises as to how many frames are needed. Since you will be taking exposures in the 15 to 30 second range, you don’t want to have to wait around for a long series unless it’s necessary. There are other considerations, such as the apparent movement of the stars over time, but here I discuss only the narrow topic of noise reduction. The answer to the question “How many?” will depend on your particular camera sensor and can only be determined by testing.
Here are the results from such a test using a Nikon D800E at ISO 6400 with Sigma 24-36 ART lens at 24 mm, f/2.2, and 20 second exposures. These are 100% blowups of a small part of the scene after processing with StarryLandscapeStacker, after which I arranged them in Photoshop and applied some contrast enhancement. If you want to see the fully processed, full frame of this, go back two days in my photostream.
StarryLandscapeStacker adjusts a stack of images so that apparent motion of the stars is minimized while retaining sharpness in non-sky regions of the scene. It also does the median filtering of the stack. You can do median filtering in Photoshop, but adjustment of the sky to eliminate star tracks is easier to do with a separate utility such as SLS.
So, how big does the stack have to be? The numbers on the image are the number of frames in each stack, going from 1 (no stack) to 2, 4, 8, 12, and 16 frames. Noise does decrease as frames are added to the stack. Even at 16, there is still some noise, but the difference between 12 and 16 is small, so somewhere around there the point of diminishing returns has been reached. At any rate, stacking does a fantastic job when compared to the original unstacked image.
I hope you find this useful. If you have comments, please put them here or send me a flickr message.
6 (i). Oct 17, 2020
The photograph WITH explanatory labels and arrows pointing to the planets
The Milky Way lies vertical, much like a celestial ladder, with its core barely visible above horizon. Our galaxy’s core bids farewell to all of us in the north hemisphere, as it will remain invisible throughout the winter months ahead. There are a hundred billion (100,000,000,000 or 10¹¹) stars in it.
A meteor (aka shooting star) was luckily captured whilst moving fast and burning out in the atmosphere.
The apparent angular distance between Jupiter and Saturn is 6° 3' approximately (6° 2' 58").
In the foreground, the deserted Hypapantē (Candlemas) abbey is seen. It is nested within the rock formation at a height of 230 ft (70 m) above ground. The monastery dates back to 1367 and was destroyed by fire on 1809 on a local Ottoman bully’s instructions (based in Ioannina). It was restored in 2000.
Meteora is the name of the group comprising many impressive and lofty rock formations: The height of the sandstone megaliths ranges between 1,000-2,067 ft (300-630 m). The rock masses which were formed 60 million years ago are geologically unique and listed in UNESCO world heritage sites.
4 (ii). Sep 19, 2020
The photograph With explanatory labels and arrows pointing to the 2 planets ONLY.
On September 19, 2020 the apparent angular distance between Jupiter and Saturn was 7° 19′.
The two planets’ apparent angular distance was close enough throughout 2020, as their apparent positions on the sky approached closer and closer until their “Great Conjunction,” to occur on December 21, 2020 (at the winter solstice). During the Great Conjunction, the two gas giants’ apparent angular distance on the sky will be only 6′, or one tenth ( 1/10 ) of a degree, or one fifth (1/5) of the lunar diameter approximately.
In this shot captured on Sep. 19, 2020, the two planets are viewed at an altitude of 27° above horizon, over the lofty rock formations called Meteora in Greece. The Holy Trinity monastery (abbey) is also viewed and so, too, is part of the Milky Way and of the Sagittarius constellation (its π [pi] & σ [sigma] stars are marked by arrows, for reference). Light pollution is markedly evident below-left and below-right (beams), as the rock formatoins were illuminated by gigantic projectors and the city lights were on in Kalampaka.
Meteora is the name of the group comprising many impressive and lofty rock formations: The height of the sandstone megaliths ranges between 1,000-2,067 ft (300-630 m). The rock masses were formed 60 million years ago, are geologically unique and listed in UNESCO world heritage sites.
This is the 4th of the shots’ series dedicated to Jupiter and Saturn in 2020, all shot with the same Canon EOS RP camera and with a 24mm focal length. Here are dates and apparent angular distances of all shots:
#1. May 13: 6° 6′
#2. May 23: 4° 0′ 6″
#3. Sep 8: 8° 17′
#4. Sep 19: 7° 19′ ( This shot )
#5 & #6. Oct 17: 6° 3′
#7. Oct 22: 5° 2′
Camera Settings:
Canon EOS RP
Canon RF24-105mm F4 L IS USM @ 24mm
Sky:
ISO 8000 - f/4 - 13 sec × 40 stacked by Starry Landscape Stacker - min hor low noise algorithm for the stars
Foreground:
ISO 800 - f/1.4 - 50-105 sec × 6 (the mean of 6 layers stacked in order to reduce noise)
Most nights, the northeast facing facade of the Church of St Andrew is lit by powerful floodlights. These are so bright that the stars are completely lost in the glare. But at around 04:00 on this morning, when I was scouting out the darker southwest side of the church, the lights went off. Ambient light levels were still quite high thanks to streetlights and office lights, but I immediately stopped what I was doing to photograph the scene. Once my eyes adjusted to the new darkness, the stripe of the Milky Way, and (from bottom right to top left) the familiar stars of the Constellation of Carina, the Southern Cross, the Coalsack Dark Nebula, the Southern Pointer, and the start of the Great Rift were all revealed. Lurking in the bottom left corner is the smudge of the Small Magellanic Cloud. I set up the camera quite close to the base of the church, producing a somewhat different perspective of this side of the church.
-———
Links for background information on the church ...
Church of St Andrew Website ...
My thanks to the staff and volunteers for granting access to the church and grounds, and for their kindness in making me feel so very welcome.
-———
[ Location - Forrest, Australian Capital Territory, Australia ]
Photography notes ...
The photograph was taken using the following hardware configuration ...
(Year of manufacture indicated in braces where known.)
- Hasselblad X1D-50c Medium Format Mirrorless Digital Camera (Silver) - MFR # H-3013900 (2017).
- Hasselblad X1D GPS Module - MFR # H-3054772.
- Hasselblad XCD 30mm f/3.5 Lens - MFR # H-3025030 (2017).
- Really Right Stuff (RRS) TFC-14 Series 1 Carbon Fiber Tripod - MFR # 13996.
- Really Right Stuff (RRS) BH-30 Ball Head with Mini Screw-Knob Clamp - MFR # BH-30 PRO.
- Really Right Stuff BX1D-L Set L-Plate for Hasselblad X1D - MFR # BX1D L-PLATE SET
- Hasselblad X1D Shoulder Strap - MFR # H-3054754.
I acquired 9 input photographs (8272 x 6200 pixels) with an ISO of 1600, exposure time of 16 seconds, and aperture of f/3.5.
Post-processing ...
Finder - Removed the CF card from the camera digital back and placed it in a Lexar 25-in-1 USB card reader. Then used Finder on my MacBook Air to download the raw image files (3FR extension) from the card.
Lightroom - Imported the 3FR images.
Lightroom - Exported the images as 16-bit TIFF files.
StarryLandscapeStacker - Loaded the TIFF files.
StarryLandscapeStacker - Removed the stars that had been incorrectly identified on the foreground region.
StarryLandscapeStacker - Refined the suggested extent of the sky region.
StarryLandscapeStacker - Stacked the images, during which the software made adjustments for the apparent rotation and translation of the stars from one frame to the next. Output the result as a stacked TIFF file. Also saved the Foreground/Sky mask image. The stacking substantially reduced the random noise that forms a background to the stars.
Photoshop - Imported the Lightroom version of the stacked TIFF image into Photoshop.
GradientXTerminator - Selected background portions of the image (e.g., corners and borders of the image). (Filter / RC-Astro / GradientXTerminator) Applied this Photoshop plug-in that uses tension splines to remove gradients from the image, including any vignetting. Specified “Fine” for “Details”, “High” for “Strength”, and left “Balance Background Color” unchecked.
GradientXTerminator - Output the image as a TIFF file.
Lightroom - Imported the TIFF image.
Lightroom - Applied various basic lighting and color adjustments in the Develop module to optimize the lighting of the background / sky region.
Lightroom - Saved the Develop module settings as a preset.
Lightroom - Output this image as a TIFF image (8272 x 6200 pixels).
Lightroom - Applied a different set of basic color and lighting adjustments in the Develop module to optimise the appearance of the foreground region.
Lightroom - Saved the Develop module settings as a preset.
Lightroom - Output this image as a TIFF image (8272 x 6200 pixels).
Photoshop - Opened the sky and foreground TIFF images.
Photoshop - Applied a series of minor adjustments to the sky image.
Photoshop - Created a mask to accurately separate the sky and foreground regions. Used this mask to combine the optimal portions of the sky and foreground images. Saved this as a 16-bit TIFF file.
Photoshop - Returned to the image optimized for the sky region.
Photoshop - Applied a series of functions to make the stars smaller and dimmer.
- Select / Color Range / Highlights >> Adjust the range and fuzziness to highlight the right number and size of bright stars.
- After pressing OK, look at what has been selected on the image.
[ If changes are required - Edit / Step Backward >> Adjust the range and fuzziness as required. ]
- Select / Modify / Expand >> 1 pixel
- Filter / Other / Minimum >> Radius of 1 pixel, with “Preserve Roundness”.
Photoshop - Output the image as a 16-bit TIFF file.
Photoshop - Used the mask that was prepared early to combine the optimal portions of the sky image with muted stars and the foreground images. Saved this as a 16-bit TIFF file.
Photoshop - Blended the two combined images with “Normal” mode and 50% opacity.
Photoshop - Output this image as a 16-bit TIFF file.
Photoshop - Noted that there were thin dark and light lines along the edge of the sky region where it meets the foreground region. Selected the sky region, masking out the foreground region. Contracted the sky region by 3 pixels. This removed the thin dark and light lines. Used content aware fill to produce content that mimicked the sky region in the expanded foreground region. Masked out the original foreground region and combined this with the foreground region. This effectively removed the thin dark and light lines along the two regions.
Photoshop - Saved this image as a 16-bit TIFF image and as a JPEG image.
PhotoSync - Copied the JPEG file to my iPad Mini for any final processing, review, enjoyment, and posting to social media.
@MomentsForZen #MomentsForZen #MFZ #Hasselblad #X1D #Lightroom #StarryLandscapeStacker #Photoshop #PhotoSync #Sky #Night #Dark #Stars #MilkyWay #GreatRift #CoalsackNebula #SouthernCross #SouthernPointers #SmallMagellanicCloud #CarinaConstellation #Church #PresbyterianChurch #StAndrews #StAndrewsChurch #Exterior #Hall #Gothic #GothicArchitecture
It was a clear dark sky, so I turned the camera and wide angle lens to the east, angling it up above the trees. The dark and light clouds of dust of the Milky Way were readily visible and the resulting photograph was more than just “pleasing” - perhaps powerful or humbling. After all, we are looking at the core of the Milky Way Galaxy, our home in the Universe. To me, two of the most amazing aspects of astronomy are that our position in the Milky Way Galaxy can be determined, and that although we can’t put limits on the size of the universe, we know that the age is 13.772 billion years +/- 59 million years (according to a set of definitions and assumptions). That is a very precise age for something that old.
-———
Links for background information ...
stmarks.edu.au/
My thanks to the staff of St Mark’s National Theological Centre (St Mark’s NTC) for their friendliness and encouragement of photographing on the grounds of their Barton campus and the Australian Centre of Christianity and Culture.
-———
[ Location - Barton, Australian Capital Territory, Australia ]
Photography notes ...
The photograph was taken using the following hardware configuration ...
(Year of manufacture indicated in braces where known.)
- Hasselblad X1D-50c Medium Format Mirrorless Digital Camera (Silver) - MFR # H-3013900 (2017).
- Hasselblad X1D GPS Module - MFR # H-3054772.
- Hasselblad XCD 30mm f/3.5 Lens - MFR # H-3025030 (2017).
- Really Right Stuff (RRS) TFC-14 Series 1 Carbon Fiber Tripod - MFR # 13996.
- Really Right Stuff (RRS) BH-30 Ball Head with Mini Screw-Knob Clamp - MFR # BH-30 PRO.
- Really Right Stuff BX1D-L Set L-Plate for Hasselblad X1D - MFR # BX1D L-PLATE SET
- Hasselblad X1D Shoulder Strap - MFR # H-3054754.
I acquired 10 input photographs (8272 x 6200 pixels) with an ISO of 1600, exposure time of 8 seconds, and aperture of f/3.5.
Post-processing ...
Finder - Removed the CF card from the camera digital back and placed it in a Lexar 25-in-1 USB card reader. Then used Finder on my MacBook Air to download the raw image files (3FR extension) from the card.
Lightroom - Imported the 3FR images.
Lightroom - Exported the images as 16-bit TIFF files.
StarryLandscapeStacker - Loaded the TIFF files, along with a “flat frame” that I had prepared earlier.
StarryLandscapeStacker - Removed any automatically derived stars that were suggested by the software to be on the foreground region.
StarryLandscapeStacker - Adjusted the suggested extent of the sky region.
StarryLandscapeStacker - Stacked the images, during which the software made adjustments for the rotation and translation of the stars from one frame to the next. Output the result as a stacked TIFF file. Also saved the Foreground/Sky mask image. The stacking substantially reduced the random noise that forms a background to the stars.
Lightroom - I found it necessary to import the stacked image then save it straight away as a TIFF image to prevent Photoshop from converting the channels from 16-bit to 8-bit.
Photoshop - Imported the Lightroom version of the stacked TIFF image into Photoshop.
GradientXTerminator - Selected background portions of the image (e.g., corners and borders of the image). (Filter / RC-Astro / GradientXTerminator) Applied this Photoshop plug-in that uses tension splines to remove gradients from the image, including any vignetting. Specified “Fine” for “Details”, “High” for “Strength”, and left “Balance Background Color” unchecked.
GradientXTerminator - Output the image as a TIFF file.
Lightroom - Imported the TIFF image.
Lightroom - Applied various basic lighting and color adjustments in the Develop module to optimize the lighting of the background / sky region.
Lightroom - Saved the Develop module settings as a preset.
Lightroom - Output this image as a TIFF image (8272 x 6200 pixels).
Photoshop - Opened the TIFF image. Applied a series of functions to make the stars smaller and dimmer.
- Select / Color Range / Highlights >> Adjust the range and fuzziness to highlight the right number and size of bright stars.
- After pressing OK, look at what has been selected on the image.
[ If changes are required - Edit / Step Backward >> Adjust the range and fuzziness as required. ]
- Select / Modify / Expand >> 1 pixel
- Filter / Other / Minimum >> Radius of 1 pixel, with “Preserve Roundness”.
Photoshop - Output the image as a 16-bit TIFF file.
Photoshop - Re-applied the GradientXTerminator function to take out the dark vignetting that had developed during the processing.
Photoshop - Output this image as a 16-bit TIFF file.
Lightroom - Removed a slight purple color cast. Increased the brightness of the image.
Lightroom - Saved the Develop module settings as a preset.
Lightroom - Output the image as a JPEG image using the “Maximum” quality option (8272 x 6200 pixels).
PhotoSync - Copied the JPEG file to my iPad Mini for any final processing, review, enjoyment, and posting to social media.
@MomentsForZen #MomentsForZen #MFZ #Hasselblad #X1D #Lightroom #StarryLandscapeStacker #Photoshop #PhotoSync #Sky #Night #Dark #Stars #Trees #MilkyWay #GalacticCore #StMarks #StMarksNationalTheologicalCentre #StMarksNTC #AustralianCentreOfChristianityAndCulture
Picked up a head cold a few weeks back and haven't had the chance to get out , down to just the sniffles and an annoying cough now thank goodness.
Some promising numbers for sunrise and sunset today, too good to pass up ragardless of the cough..
Ducked down to Shellharbour harbour (not the Marina) and just wandered around in the dark .. following the light out to Cowries with what is probably the lowest tide I've encountered there for some time.
Finished the day at Kiama - just because (?!) more to come on that over the next week or so. For now here's some frames form Cowries on a ripper of winter dawn.
Pentax K1 w DFA15-30/2.8
ISO3200 f/11 10s 15mm x 30 frames
Raw developed in DxO PhotoLab6 to .tiff files
Stacked aligned in Starry Landscape Stacker to a single .tiff
Colour graded in Nik6 Color Efex, touched up in Topaz AI and finished off back in PhotoLab.