View allAll Photos Tagged Subframing
This is the current state of an ongoing experiment comparing the use of an uncooled colour planetary camera against a deep sky colour camera. Both have CMOS sensors. The deep sky images are on the same scale as the planetary camera image but I have cropped their area down by about half.
Progress so far suggests that on the right settings the planetary camera can produce a nice close-up of the Ring nebula that with longer total exposure times and the right individual subframe times could be as (or even more) detailed than the wider field views with the cooled deep sky camera.
Peter
I've photographed sections of the Cygnus Loop several times before but never had a telescope and camera that had a wide enough field to capture the loop in its entirety. The Dwarf III in mosaic mode finally gave me that capability.
I captured this image two ways to create three different iterations. First I took 200 subframes 15 seconds each using the Astro filter built into the Dwarf III. This is good for representing stars without bloat. It does not do a good job of revealing detail in nebulae. Next I took 200 subframes 30 seconds each using a Duo filter. This filter is good at revealing nebulae details, but tends to produce stars than are not terribly sharp.
I first tried combing the results of both filters, but I didn't particularly like the result. Neither did I like the result of the Astro filter. The Duo filter produced the most pleasing image to my eye, which is what is posted above.
Description: This is my image of the Andromeda Galaxy M31 based on about 15 hours of total exposure time. The angular size of M31 is a huge 178x63 arcminutes which occupies a significant portion of the APS-C sensor of my camera. Since there are also numerous background stars, finding a relatively star-free area to do a Background Neutralization is a bit of a challenge. I also found achieving a proper color balance to be another challenge. Various sources indicate the presence of an outer bluish halo encompassing the core. I tried to achieve my objective by applying a series of Curves Transformations while protecting the background with a mask. As a side note, while numerous stars are present, I decided against applying a Morphological Transformation to reduce their brightness because in doing so I detected an undesirable ringing effect. One possible solution is to apply Multiscale Linear Transform with deringing selected. However, I have not tested that option.
Date / Location: 21-23 September and 8-10 October 2022 / Washington D.C.
Equipment:
Scope: WO Zenith Star 81mm f/6.9 with WO 6AIII Flattener/Focal Reducer x0.8
OSC Camera: ZWO ASI 2600 MC Pro at 100 Gain
Mount: iOptron GEM28-EC
Guide Scope: WO 50mm Uniguide Scope
Guide Camera: ZWO ASI 290mm
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Light Pollution Filter: Chroma LoGlow Broadband
Processing Software: Pixinsight
Processing Steps:
Preprocessing: I preprocessed 184x300s subs (= 15.3 hours) in Pixinsight to get an integrated image using the following steps: Image Calibration > Cosmetic Correction > Subframe Selector > Debayer > Select Reference Star and Star Align > Image Integration.
Linear Postprocessing: Rotation > Dynamic Crop > Dynamic Background Extractor (subtraction to remove light pollution gradients and division for flat field corrections) > Background Neutralization > Color Calibration > Noise Xterminator.
Nonlinear Postprocessing: First Histogram Transformation > Second Histogram Transformation > First Local Histogram Equalization > Second Local Histogram Equalization First Curves Transformation > Second Curves Transformation > Third Curves Transformation > SCNR Noise Reduction.
This is a colour image of the Monkey Head nebula, using H Alpha data as luminance and red with added green and blue data. For anyone struggling to see the monkey's head, the whole bright area makes a monkey's head in profile looking to the left in this image.
This is a stack of sixteen eight-minute H Alpha subframes, ten three-minute Green subframes and eleven three-minute blue subframes taken through my 130mm triplet APO on 19 January 2016.
Peter
1978 Lancia Beta 1600 coupe.
Last MoT test expired in September 2008 (SORN, now MoT exempt).
It failed a test spectacularly in September 2019 -
Stop lamp(s) all not working (4.3.1 (a) (iii)) - Dangerous
Parking brake efficiency less than 50% of the required value (1.4.2 (a) (ii)) - Dangerous
Offside headlamp not working on dipped beam (4.1.1 (a) (ii)) - Major
Offside front direction indicator not working (4.4.1 (a) (ii)) - Major
Offside front position lamp adversely affected by the operation of another lamp affected when indicator switched on (4.2.3 (c)) - Major
Horn not working (7.7 (a) (ii)) - Major
Nearside rear position lamp not working (4.2.1 (a) (ii)) - Major
Offside rear position lamp adversely affected by the operation of another lamp affected by the indicator (4.2.3 (c)) - Major
Nearside rear direction indicator light intensity significantly reduced (4.4.3 (a)) - Major
Offside rear direction indicator light intensity significantly reduced (4.4.3 (a)) - Major
Windscreen wiper not working (3.4 (a)) - Major
Windscreen washer not working (3.5 (a)) - Major
Nearside steering rack gaiter missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (2.1.3 (g) (ii)) - Major
Offside steering rack gaiter missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (2.1.3 (g) (ii)) - Major
Offside front integral body structure corroded to the extent that the rigidity of the assembly is significantly reduced inner sill (6.1.1 (c) (i)) - Major
Offside front integral body structure corroded to the extent that the rigidity of the assembly is significantly reduced floor pan not attached to sill (6.1.1 (c) (i)) - Major
Offside rear integral body structure corroded to the extent that the rigidity of the assembly is significantly reduced inner sill (6.1.1 (c) (i)) - Major
Nearside front integral body structure corroded to the extent that the rigidity of the assembly is significantly reduced inner sill (6.1.1 (c) (i)) - Major
Nearside rear integral body structure corroded to the extent that the rigidity of the assembly is significantly reduced inner sill (6.1.1 (c) (i)) - Major
Offside front suspension component mounting prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength forward subframe mounting in front cross member (5.3.6 (a) (i)) - Major
Offside front suspension component mounting prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength rearward subframe mounting (5.3.6 (a) (i)) - Major
Front registration plate missing (0.1 (a)) - Major
Nearside front upper suspension component mounting prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength shock mount (5.3.6 (a) (i)) - Major
Offside front upper suspension component mounting prescribed area excessively damaged significantly reducing structural strength shock mount (5.3.6 (a) (i)) - Major
Nearside front service brake excessively binding (1.2.1 (f)) - Major
Emissions not tested due to overheating (8.2.1.2 (d)) - Major
With a nice SEAT Ibiza parked behind and that Carina E estate again.
I've never photographed this galaxy before. I'm not sure what makes it the phantom galaxy, but maybe it had a role in a Star Wars movie.
Seestar S50
635 10-second subframes. Polar Alignment.
Orion L stacked.reg_9_cropped
2 subframes each LRGB - all 5 minutes binned 1x1 +
3 x 30 second RGB frames for Trapezium & star colours.
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Photographed at Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada
(285 km by road north of Toronto)
* Temperature 11 degrees C.
* Total exposure time: 12 minutes.
For a version of this photo WITH LABELS, click on your screen to the RIGHT of the photo, or click here:
www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/28023003682
Here is a photo of the equipment used to make these astrophotos:
www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/27777670520
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Description:
High overhead in the northern hemisphere summer sky the Milky Way - our home galaxy - displays many clouds of red hydrogen gas and numerous star clusters.
An especially rich area surrounds the star Sadr - also known as Gamma Cygni - in the constellation Cygnus (the Swan).
The star Deneb: At the left edge of the frame is brilliant Deneb, the 19th brightest star in the sky. Deneb is so enormous that, if we were to view it from Earth's distance to our Sun, Deneb would stretch 60° across the sky! Deneb is also one of the most intrinsically luminous stars known; its light output is 200,000 times that of our Sun. It is also very far away; current estimates are about 2,500 light years; this compares with a few light years to a few dozen light years for most of the other bright stars that we can see in our sky.
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Technical information:
Nikkor AF-S 70 - 200 mm f/2.8 G ED VRII lens on Nikon D810a camera body, mounted on Astrophysics 1100GTO equatorial mount with a Kirk Enterprises ball head
Twelve stacked frames; each frame:
200 mm focal length
ISO 5000; 1 minute exposure at f/4.5; unguided
(with LENR - long exposure noise reduction)
Subframes registered in RegiStar;
Stacked and processed in Photoshop CS6 (brightness, contrast, levels, colour balance, colour desaturation)
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It's got da stance. Had to replace the rear axle with bendy hose and remove the rear subframe to do it, but I figure that leaves this with as much structural integrity as a real stanced car.
This is a close look in Hydrogen Alpha at the central part of Sharpless 2-112, a nebulous region in Cygnus.
This image is a stack of fifteen five-minute subframes taken through my 12inch f/10 SCT.
Peter
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Photographed at Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada
(285 km by road north of Toronto)
between 00.32 and 00.52 EDT
* Altitude of centre of frame at time of exposures: 44°, increasing to 47°
* Temperature 9° C.
* Total exposure time: 10 minutes
* 1253 mm focal length telescope
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Description:
The constellation Auriga is festooned with open star clusters, three of which (M36, M37 and M38) are listed in Charles Messier's catalogue of non-stellar objects, commonly known as the Messier List.
In the centre of this image is the bright and large cluster M38, which was discovered in 1654, lies about 3,480 light years from our solar system, and is estimated to be about 250 million years old. It is quite bright, at magnitude 7.4, and is a very pretty sight in even a small telescope.
Below M38, near the bottom edge of the frame and just a little right of centre, is the smaller cluster NGC 1907, which is further away (4,500 light years), fainter (magnitude 8.2) and older (~500 million years) than M82.
For a version of this photo WITH LABELS, click on your screen to the RIGHT of the photo, or click here:
www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/52472161224
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Technical information:
Nikon D810A camera body on Explore Scientific 152 mm (6") apochromatic refracting telescope, mounted on Astrophysics 1100GTO equatorial mount
Ten stacked subframes; each frame:
ISO 6400; 1 minute exposure at f/8
(with LENR - long exposure noise reduction)
Subframes stacked in RegiStar;
Processed in Photoshop CS6 (brightness, colour balance & saturation, sharpening)
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Photographed at Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada
(285 km by road north of Toronto)
between 00.51 and 01.26 EDT
* Altitude of the nebula at time of exposures: 35°, increasing to 41°
* Temperature 13° C.
* Total exposure time: 15 minutes
* 1200 mm focal length telescope
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Description:
This is a combination emission / reflection gas cloud, about 5 light years in diameter and lying 1,500 light years distant from our solar system.
The bright star that is embedded in the nebula is a "runaway star", the 6.0-magnitude irregular variable star AE Aurigae, which is known as the "Flaming Star". For more about this star, click here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AE_Aurigae
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Nikon D810a camera body on Explore Scientific 152 mm (6") apochromatic refracting telescope, mounted on Astrophysics 1100GTO equatorial mount with a Kirk Enterprises ball head
Fourteen stacked subframes; each frame:
ISO 8000; 1 minute exposure at f/8
(with LENR - long exposure noise reduction)
Subframes stacked in RegiStar;
Processed in Photoshop CS6 (brightness, contrast, levels, colour balance, sharpening, partial blurring of graininess in image)
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1994 SAAB 900 S convertible.
Registered in August 1996.
Last MoT test expired in August 2020 (SORN).
It failed a test on 22nd April 2021 -
Offside front headlamp aim too low (4.1.2 (a)) - Major
Nearside front side repeater not working (4.4.1 (a) (ii)) - Major
Nearside front service brake excessively binding (1.2.1 (f)) - Major
Offside front subframe mounting prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength near lower arm. (5.3.6 (a) (i)) - Major
Nearside rear suspension component mounting prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength close to rear suspension mount. (5.3.6 (a) (i)) - Major
A shock find on streetview. While prepping for a spotting trip, I thought I'd have a look in a random newbuild estate, just because the streetview had been done pretty recently. To my surprise, this pre-facelift Ulysse was sitting, so I went to go and see it the next day.
Long term ownership and off the road since last year, after failing it's MOT on the dreaded Front Subframe. I'd say it's the end of the road for this rare MPV, but kudos to the owners for keeping it about.
P797 FJA
I like how the nebulosity emerged with both emission and hints of reflective nebulae. But I’ll need to figure out how to manage “bloated” stars.
TMB 80mm f/6.3 refractor, TV 0.8x field flattener/reducer, ASI533MC Pro, 20 60-second subframes with a dual narrow band filter and 20 90-second subframes without filter. Calibrated with darks, flats, etc. Post-processed with DSS and PS.
January 24, 2025; Backyard, Tallahassee, Florida. Bortle 7 sky. Waves of cirrus moved in during imaging making what would otherwise be good seeing variable. Guiding total error was about 2 arcsec. I’ve been using the ST-4 port to connect the guider. I’ll try using the ASCOM driver next time. I also used NINA’s sequencer and it worked fine. I had a few glitches due to “operator error” which should resolve with experience. NINA is an impressive program but has a bit of a learning curve. That’s what makes this hobby so much fun, all the learning curves. It’s hard to get complacent because there are always new challenges.
This image is mainly in Hydrogen Alpha, mixed with some green subframes to create a colour image and bring out detail in this faint nebula. It is the sharpest I have managed with my largest telescope following a much needed collimation session. It consists mainly of seventeen five-minute subframes in H Alpha taken through my 12inch SCT, lightly cropped to allow the image to be centred.
Peter
NGC 1999 is the reflection nebula at centre right and it is just south of the Orion nebula which is off the right hand edge
of the frame.
This is an integration of 18 hours total exposure shot in multiple 180s and 240s subframes on a QHY168C camera. The scope was a WO Zenithstar 103. Image capture was managed with SGP and PHD2, post-processing was done in PixInsight.
Observed from Prachinburi, Thailand
Shot with an STC duo-narrowband filter on a QHY168C OSC camera, this is an integration of 240 x 5 minute subframes. The scope was a WO Zenithstar 103 mounted on a Skywatcher EQ6R Pro. Image capture was managed via SGP and PHD2, all post-processing was carried out in PixInsight.
Observed from Prachinburi, Thailand
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Photographed at Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada
(285 km by road north of Toronto)
between 23.30 and 23.50 EDT
* Total exposure time: 10 minutes
* 660 mm focal length telescope
* Field of view: ~2.8° wide x 1.7° high
* Altitude of galaxy at time of exposures: 22.5°, declining to 20.4°
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Description:
This was my first attempt at photographing this magnitude 8.8 galaxy, which is famous in the history of astronomy, as you will see from reading the description below:
From Wikipedia:
"NGC 6822 (also known as Barnard's Galaxy, IC 4895, or Caldwell 57) is a barred irregular galaxy approximately 1.6 million light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius. Part of the Local Group of galaxies, it was discovered by E. E. Barnard in 1884, with a six-inch refractor telescope. It is the closest non-satellite galaxy to the Milky Way, but lies just outside its virial radius. It is similar in structure and composition to the Small Magellanic Cloud. It is about 7,000 light-years in diameter.
Edwin Hubble, in the paper N.G.C. 6822, A Remote Stellar System, identified 15 variable stars (11 of which were Cepheids) of this galaxy. ... Hubble's detection of eleven Cepheid variable stars was a milestone in astronomy. Utilizing the Cepheid Period-Luminosity relationship, Hubble determined a distance of 214 kiloparsecs or 698,000 light-years. This was the first system beyond the Magellanic Clouds to have its distance determined. (Hubble continued this process with the Andromeda Galaxy and the Triangulum Galaxy). This distance to the galaxy was way beyond Harlow Shapley's value of 300,000 light-years for the size of the universe. In the paper, Hubble concluded the "Great Debate" of 1920 between Heber Curtis and Shapley over the scale of the universe and the nature of the "spiral nebula". It soon became evident that all spiral nebulae were in fact spiral galaxies far outside our own Milky Way."
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Technical information:
Nikon D810a camera body on Tele Vue 127is (127 mm - 5" - diameter) apochromatic refracting telescope, mounted on a Sky-Watcher EQ6-R PRO SynScan mount
Ten stacked subframes - each frame:
660 mm focal length
ISO 3200; 1 minute exposure at f/5.2, unguided, with long exposure noise reduction
Stacked in RegiStar 1.0.10
Processed in Photoshop CS6 (brightness, contrast, colour balance)
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Rationalisation at NCS HQ yielded the Modular MQB platform (Modular, Quick-change, Basic) with a common body mated to a wide range of powertrain subframes.
Here we have an MQB body mated to a Sondo-Reata-Nautics Hovercraft platform kit.
(Apologies for the polygons - Blender doesn't like doing those corner pipes in rubber for some reason)
As seen from an elevation of 4,000 feet at the top of Mary's Peak in Oregon. My Seestar S50 ran from 9:50PM till 4:30AM collecting 1,020 ten-second subframes. The night was moonless, clear and cold.
563 ten-second subframes.
I imaged the Flaming Star Nebula using two different smartscopes with dramatically different results. There were also differences in post-processing that influence the differences. The two smartscopes' cost was nearly identical. No one scope is better than the other, but each has a distinct look. See below for comparison.
Rationalisation at NCS HQ yielded the Modular MQB platform (Modular, Quick-change, Basic) with a common body mated to a wide range of powertrain subframes.
Here we have an MQB body mated to Boston Dynamics 4x4 'Iron Horse' Walking platform.
5 x 240s subframes- Testing out what Rho Ophiuchi looks like at 135mm.
Earth & Sky - Mount John University Observatory
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Photographed at Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada
(285 km by road north of Toronto)
* Temperature 11° C.
* Total exposure time: 8 minutes.
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Description:
The familiar "W" shape of the bright stars in the constellation Cassiopeia rides high in the northern hemisphere autumn and winter sky, with our home galaxy, the Milky Way, running through it and down into the constellation Perseus.
Many large and bright nebulae (hydrogen gas clouds) appear in this area of the sky, along with numerous gravitationally bound open clusters of stars.
Above centre are the bright red hydrogen gas clouds known as the "Heart" and "Soul' Nebulae. For a close-up view of the Heart Nebula made with a 540 mm focal length telescope on the same evening, click here:
www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/31079231531
For a version of this photo WITH labels, click on the right side of your screen, or click here:
www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/30406597543
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Technical information:
Sigma 50 mm f/1.4 DG HSM ART lens on Nikon D810a camera body, mounted on Astrophysics 1100GTO equatorial mount with a Kirk Enterprises ball head
Eight stacked frames; each frame:
50 mm focal length
ISO 2500; 1 minute exposure at f/4; unguided
(with LENR - long exposure noise reduction)
Subframes registered in RegiStar;
Stacked and processed in Photoshop CS6 (brightness, contrast, levels, colour balance, colour desaturation)
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This is the Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex, which lies near the summer Milky Way on the border between the constellations of Scorpius and Ophiuchus. This area is loaded with gas and dust, and is home to many deep sky objects. It is also one of the more colorful nebulae in the sky.
Image Info
Imaged from the KPO field in Saint Cloud, Florida.
Camera : ZWO ASI1600MM Pro, Gain set to 200
Lens: Canon 100-400 f/5.6L lens, set to 135mm
Mount: iOptron SmartEQ Pro
Red: 12 subframes of 300s = 60 min integration
Green: 8 subframes of 300s = 40 min integration
Blue: 10 subframes of 300s = 50 min integration
Luminance: 11 subframes of 300s = 55 min integration
Hydrogen Alpha: 2 subframes of 300s = 10 min integration
Total integration time: 215 min = 3.6 hours.
Captured via ASIAir Pro automation
Optical tracking via ASIAir automation, currently using ST4 mount control via the ASI120MM-S guide camera
Separate channels stacked and HaLRGB integrated in Astro Pixel Processor, and processing for light pollution sky fog removal
Image cropped, stretched, and noise processed in Nebulosity.
Final processing in Aperture
Another of my favourite winter objects. This is a stack of twenty-two eight minute subframes in H Alpha from tonight, 7 January 2016.
Peter
Equipment used: Atik460EX camera, HA filter, 0.75 reducer, 130mm triplet APO refractor and EQ8 mount
Skywatcher 72ED apo with field flattener,SX Trius 694/filterwheel/OAG (Lodestar) riding on CEM60.
Six 10 minute subframes captured through Ha and OIII filters,stacked in Deepskystacker and colour combined (Ha,OIII,OIII) in Maxim DL4. Processed in Astroart 8 and PS CS2.
Taken 31/10/21
Stack of the best 42 90 s subframes with an Optolong Luminance filter, taken from 2023-03-25 0526-0721 UT with a Celestron Edge HD 925 at focal length 1530 mm and an Atik 414-EX camera. The position of 2023dbc is indicated with the white line.
This is from my light polluted backyard in Long Beach, CA. I mostly wanted to see if I could image a supernova fainter than magnitude 16 from my backyard. Looks like the answer is yes.
2023dbc is a Type Ic supernova. That means the progenitor had shed both its hydrogen and helium layers before exploding. This means the progenitor would have been a Wolf-Rayet star.
Preprocessing in Nebulosity; registration, stacking, and initial processing in PixInsight; the background of light pollution was knocked down in Photoshop.
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Photographed at Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, between 22.58 and 23.09 EDT
(285 km by road north of Toronto)
* Temperature 17° C.
* Total exposure time: 6 minutes.
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Description:
The centre of our home galaxy, the Milky Way, lies in the constellation Sagittarius, which in the northern hemisphere summer lies low in the south at midnight.
In this view appear many favourite targets of amateur astronomers with modest telescopes, including the large glowing Lagoon Nebula at the lower right.
For a version of this photo WITH LABELS, click on your screen to the RIGHT of the photo, or click here:
www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/28589630170
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Technical information:
Nikkor AF-S 70 - 200 mm f/2.8 G ED VRII lens on Nikon D810a camera body, mounted on Astrophysics 1100GTO equatorial mount with a Kirk Enterprises ball head
Six stacked frames; each frame:
135 mm focal length
ISO 4000; 1 minute exposure at f/4.5; unguided
(with LENR - long exposure noise reduction)
Subframes registered in RegiStar;
Stacked and processed in Photoshop CS6 (brightness, contrast, levels, colour balance, colour desaturation)
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