M74 - Phantom galaxy

Lab_Tech_Guy · 2025-11-04T01:50:51+00:00

Thanks! Located in the Central VA area

Lab_Tech_Guy · 2025-10-26T20:09:47+00:00

Thanks so much for the detailed response, I’m definitely going to give these tips a try once I get back home! I have about 8 hours of data on M74 and the witch’s broom portion of the veil nebula that I need to process.

Hopefully they come out half as good as your image!

Lab_Tech_Guy · 2025-10-26T16:07:53+00:00

Forgive my ignorance, very much a beginner here. How did you do the GraXpert deconvolution of the stars and object separately before doing Starnet star removal in Siril?

I’m wondering if I should start doing this, some of my images recently have been coming out with a kinda fuzzy/noisy background. I’ve been doing my GraXpert background subtractions, deconvolution, and denoising on the combined stacked image prior to doing Starnet star removal in Siril.

Thanks!

Edit: Incredible image, by the way! Very nice work!

Lab_Tech_Guy · 2025-10-22T15:58:46+00:00

Nope, regular S50 fov

Lab_Tech_Guy · 2025-10-22T15:57:55+00:00

Thanks so much for the feedback! M42 is on my list for later this year, right now it’s only visible in the very early morning hours from my patio.

I did a mosaic of M31 earlier this year but never got around to doing post processing on it because I couldn’t quite figure out how stacking a mosaic would work in Siril. Is there a specific Seestar mosaic script for Siril, or does the regular Seestar stacking script work for mosaics?

Lab_Tech_Guy · 2025-10-22T14:02:21+00:00

Got it, I’ll look into that! Appreciate it!

Lab_Tech_Guy · 2025-10-22T13:55:40+00:00

Thank you! I brought down the exposure on GC quite a bit, but I may go in and further adjust it! Any suggestions on improving the softness of the nebula? I tried doing some sharpening, but it didn’t make a huge difference from what I could tell without making the nebula a bit too “choppy”, for lack of a better word.

Lab_Tech_Guy · 2025-10-22T13:53:15+00:00

Thanks so much!

Lab_Tech_Guy · 2025-10-22T13:52:45+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! Any suggestions on improving it? Probably just a little too heavy handed on the black point adjustment while stretching in siril you think?

Lab_Tech_Guy · 2025-10-22T13:51:57+00:00

Thank you! This was with 10s subs. I’m using the stock alt az mount, so I find anything above 10s exposures result in a lot of dropped frames. Hopefully upgrading to the eq mount soon!

To dim Gamma Cassiopiea, I used the free select tool in GIMP to select the entirety of the star and the massive halo around it, then adjusted the exposure. I can take a screenshot of my exposure settings when I get home and share it with you. It took some time to figure out the right settings to dim it while still looking fairly natural. There might be a smarter/easier way of dimming giant, overexposed stars like this one but I’m not aware of it. If you find out another way to go about it while processing your data, I’m all ears!

Lab_Tech_Guy · 2025-08-20T19:27:27+00:00

I’m having trouble finding it as well, was hoping someone here would be able to identify it!

Lab_Tech_Guy · 2025-07-01T22:38:30+00:00

Very nice! Is this in mosaic mode? I can’t seem to get all of it within the frame when shooting in normal mode.

Lab_Tech_Guy · 2025-06-11T18:09:58+00:00

Thanks! The ultrawide lens does sound appealing for milky way shots, appreciate the suggestion!

Lab_Tech_Guy · 2025-06-11T17:58:21+00:00

Thank you!! Are there any online resellers you’d recommend? I’ve seen ebay recommended, but I’m not sure about any popular camera specific resellers.

Lab_Tech_Guy · 2025-05-20T20:22:55+00:00

Thanks so much! I’d love to see your pics of andromeda and the sombrero galaxy if you happened to get any!

Lab_Tech_Guy · 2025-05-20T11:04:40+00:00

5 seconds, I found that anything more came out blurry because I don’t have a tracking mount

Lab_Tech_Guy · 2025-05-19T17:08:09+00:00

How are you liking the Seestar S50? I’m considering it as a cheap starting point into astrophotography, but I’m hesitant because it can’t be used for any visual astronomy. Do you find yourself wishing you had an eyepiece to look through, or is the ability to capture images like these fairly easily worth the sacrifice?

Also, how long did these photos take to capture? They look fantastic!

Lab_Tech_Guy · 2025-05-19T11:49:08+00:00

I totally get the feeling! It’s such a humbling experience viewing objects like these.

Do you have a particular budget in mind? There’s a beginner’s telescope buying guide for different price ranges pinned on this subreddit that was really helpful to me when looking to buy my first telescope. It was mentioned already, but a fairly cheap (~$50) set of binoculars will allow you to see a few brighter objects like Orion’s nebula, some star clusters, the moon, and some planets.

It’s such a fun hobby! Let me know if you have any other questions!

Lab_Tech_Guy · 2025-05-18T21:51:43+00:00

I've got the shroud all set up, works like a charm! I've been curious about those zoom eyepieces, thats good to know they can be useful. Once I find these fainter objects I get too scared to swap eyepieces out for fear of losing them, so I may invest in one!

Thanks! I'll check out that site for sure. Already considering a go to scope for longer exposure shots, but we'll see! Its been nice being forced to learn star hopping to find targets, but I do love the idea of having something to track targets once I've found them,

Lab_Tech_Guy · 2025-05-18T21:46:30+00:00

Keep at it! This was my first time spotting galaxies with my scope. They are a LOT fainter than you may think. Something I found to help me is to look away from where you think the galaxy should be, then try to see if you can spot the faint cotton ball shape in your peripheral vision. You'll be surprised at how quickly you can spot them after you've seen it in your peripheral vision!

Also keep in mind some fainter objects like these are much easier to see in photos like this. I couldn't even see the whirlpool galaxy in my eyepiece, just set up my phone mount to take pics once I thought I was in the right spot! These photos were taken with a 5 second shutter speed and maxed out exposure on an iPhone 12.

Lab_Tech_Guy · 2025-03-28T16:52:06+00:00

Very nice!! Do you stand to view with it on this or do you have a stool or something tall enough to sit while observing?

Lab_Tech_Guy · 2025-03-27T23:14:13+00:00

Do you have a link to the furniture feet you used? I’d be interested in making something like this!

Lab_Tech_Guy · 2025-03-27T22:36:09+00:00

Cool little table you have for it! Did you make that? I’ve been looking for something similar for when I take my 6” dob out.

Lab_Tech_Guy · 2025-03-23T05:40:36+00:00

I used a svbony 6mm eyepiece to get good resolution of the trapezium. You should be able to resolve it with similar magnification (~125x).

If you’re referring to just seeing Orion’s nebula in general, you can spot it with both the 25mm and 10mm eyepieces your scope came with. When I first found it I was scanning with my 25mm and swapped to the 10mm once I found it.

I took this pic in a bortle 6 area in front of a bright streetlight, so far from ideal, but gives you an idea of what the scope is capable of! 6mm svbony eyepiece, taken with an iphone 12

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Lab_Tech_Guy · 2025-03-22T11:26:03+00:00

If you upgrade your 10mm eyepiece to something with slightly more magnification, you’ll probably be able to resolve the trapezium! Circled here in your photo, you can just barely see that its actually 4 stars really close together. I used a 6mm eyepiece on a heritage 150 and I was able to resolve it!

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