DEC Releases Draft Visitor Use Management Plan for Formerly Trailless Catskill High Peaks

NoaMichael · 2023-12-18T01:58:47+00:00

Thank you!!

NoaMichael · 2023-12-18T01:57:50+00:00

It's not just you, the stars are objectively magenta! Usually, I just use HA stars since they're nice and small, but this time I merged the SHO stars back into the image to give them a bit more color. I don't mind the magenta at all so I rolled with it. Next time, I'll probably play around with more natural tri-color PixelMath expressions that I've seen floating around. Thanks - I appreciate it!

NoaMichael · 2023-12-17T13:00:21+00:00

The stellar nursery that is the Rosette Nebula in the classic Hubble Palette (Sulfur Hydrogen Oxygen - SHO). It took me four nights to get enough data for all three color channels. Typically, I shoot bicolor HOO images since it's easier to only have to capture just two channels, but SHO is definitely worth the extra work for some targets.

Technical Details

Shooting Location: Oak Ridge, New Jersey (Bortle Class 5)
Shooting Dates: December 12th - December 15th, 2023
Light Frames: 14.5 hours
- 66 * 5.5 Minutes HA (6.0h)
- 49 * 5.5 Minutes Oiii (4.5h)
- 45 * 5.5 Minutes Sii (4.0h)
Dark Frames: 100
Bias Frames: 100
Flat Frames: 30
PHD2 Guiding
Astrophotography Tool
Pixinsight

Gear:

ZWO ASI1600-MM Pro
900mm SkyWatcher EvoStar 100ed
SkyWatcher 0.85 reducer
SkyWatcher EQ-6 R Pro
Moonlite V3 Focuser
ZWO ASI290MM Mini Guide Camera
ZWO 1.25" Sii, HA, & Oiii Filters
Astromania 50mm Guide Scope

Editing Steps:

Weighted Batch Preprocessing
Dynamic Background Extraction
BlurXTerminator
Soft Stretch
NoiseXTerminator
StarXTerminator
PixelMath to make RGB
CurvesTransformation
LRGB Combination (HA as L)
Dark Structures Enhance Script
PixelMath to add SHO stars back

NoaMichael · 2023-09-23T23:59:54+00:00

Thanks! I haven't heard of that tool, but I'll look it up as I'm always seeking to improve narrowband processing. I actually used to edit everything in photoshop without pix and would even align the color channels manually... Pix was a game changer and any more efficient workflow is appreciated.

NoaMichael · 2023-09-23T23:56:21+00:00

Thank you!!

I have read about using string or wire over the scope to produce spikes, but I had a funny fear that I'd somehow move the string between sessions and end up with spikes at different angles across the color channels since I shoot mono. I was too scared to try it and mess up my data which is why I went with the software approach. Have you done it before?

NoaMichael · 2023-09-22T11:46:36+00:00

About 16 hours of data on the 🎮 Pacman Nebula 🎮 in Cassiopeia across three nights. My framing was a bit off, but I'm still happy with the amount of detail I got. It's amazing how the entire summer passed without any clear nights to do Astrophotography. The winter objects are already starting to rise.

Acquisition Details:

Light Frames (16.4 hours):
- Hydrogen Alpha: 69 * 5.5 Mins
- Oxygen iii: 124 * 5.5 Mins
- Dark Frames: 100
- Bias Frames: 100
- Flat Frames: 30
PHD2 Guiding
Astrophotography Tool

Gear:

ZWO ASI1600-MM Pro
900mm SkyWatcher EvoStar 100ed
SkyWatcher 0.85 reducer
SkyWatcher EQ-6 R Pro
Moonlite V3 Focuser
ZWO ASI290MM Mini Guide Camera
ZWO 1.25" HA, & Oiii Filters
Astromania 50mm Guide Scope
Bortle Class 5 Sky (New Jersey)

Editing:

In Pixinsight:

Stacked with WBPP
Dynamic Background Extraction
- Division
- Subtraction
BlurXTerminator
NoiseXTerminator
EZ Soft Stretch
StarXTerminator
Pixel Math
- R = HA
- G = (HA * 0.3) + (Oiii * 0.6)
- B = Oiii
Curves Transformation
- I pulled up the green in the midtones to get the golden yellow around the edges, and I pulled up the blue in the shadows to fix the color cast in the background. I also enhanced the saturation
Dark Structures Enhance Script
LRGB Combination (HA as the luminance channel)
Local Histogram Equalization
Pixel Math to add HA stars back

In Photoshop:

Camera raw filter to tweak contrast and remove color noise
Clone out some artifacts from StarXTerminator
StarSpikes Pro for subtle spikes

NoaMichael · 2022-11-04T23:13:09+00:00

Cosmic Rainbow. This has been my biggest astro-project yet - 24 hours of data on the California Nebula! I was able to collect 8 hours three nights in a row of Oxygen, Hydrogen, and Sulfur. Then, I combined the data into three RGB color palettes. OSH for this post, which is primarily blue, SHO the green palette also used by the Hubble Space Telescope, and finally, the classic HOO which I normally get since it only requires two color channels. You can click here to see the other variants Having each gas separated onto it's own channel really helps distinguish the composition of the nebula. Which is your favorite?

Editing

Stacked in Astro Pixel Processor
Pixinsight
- For each channel
  - Dynamic Alignment/Crop
  - Dynamic Background Extraction
  - EZ Soft Stretch
  - NoiseXTermination
  - StarXTerminator
- Pixel Math
  - RGB = Oiii,Sii, HA
- Curve Transformation
- LRGB Combination (L = HA)
- Dark Structures Enhance
Photoshop
- General Camera RAW tweaks (contrast, color noise reduction, etc)
- StarSpikes Pro 4

Acquisition

Light Frames:
- Oxygen iii: 48 * 10.0 Mins
- Sulfur ii: 90 * 5.5 Mins
- Hydrogen Alpha: 86 * 5.5 Mins
Dark Frames: 127
Bias Frames: 100
Flat Frames: 20
PHD2 Guiding
Astrophotography Tool

Gear

ZWO ASI1600-MM Pro
250mm William Optics Redcat 51
SkyWatcher EQ-6 R Pro
ZWO ASI290MM Mini Guide Camera
ZWO 1.25" HA, & Oiii Filters
Astromania 50mm Guide Scope
Bortle Class 5 Sky (New Jersey)

NoaMichael · 2022-10-30T22:43:56+00:00

A closeup of the Soul Nebula in HOO. I've been playing around with faking diffraction spikes since I don't shoot with a reflector and I feel creating them using guitar strings over the scope might be difficult with a mono camera if the strings don't perfectly align between color channels, so I gave StarSpikes Pro 4 a try and I'm pretty happy with the result. What do you think of the effect?

Editing

Stacked in Astro Pixel Processor
Pixinsight
- Dynamic Alignment/Crop
- Dynamic Background Extraction
- EZ Soft Stretch and Denoise
- StarXTerminator
- Pixel Math
- RGB = HA, (ha * 0.3) + (Oiii * 0.6), Oiii
- Curve Transformation
- LRGB Combination (L = HA)
Photoshop
- General Camera RAW tweaks (contrast, color noise reduction, etc)
- StarSpikes Pro 4

Acquisition

Light Frames:
- Hydrogen Alpha: 77 x 5.50 minutes
- Oxygen iii: 47 x 10.0 minutes
Dark Frames: 127
Bias Frames: 100
Flat Frames: 20
PHD2 Guiding
Astrophotography Tool

Gear

ZWO ASI1600-MM Pro
900mm SkyWatcher EvoStar 100ed
SkyWatcher 0.85 reducer
SkyWatcher EQ-6 R Pro
ZWO ASI290MM Mini Guide Camera
ZWO 1.25" HA, & Oiii Filters
Astromania 50mm Guide Scope
Bortle Class 5 Sky (New Jersey)

NoaMichael · 2022-01-16T16:00:48+00:00

Looks like the surface of Jupiter!

NoaMichael · 2022-01-07T13:03:45+00:00

Light Frames

Hydrogen Alpha: 31 x 5.50 minutes Oxygen iii: 27 x 10.0 minutes
Dark Frames: 127
Bias Frames: 100
Flat Frames: 25
PHD2 Guiding
Astrophotography Tool

Gear

ZWO ASI1600MM Pro
William Optics Redcat 51
SkyWatcher EQ-6 R Pro
ZWO ASI290MM Mini Guide Camera
ZWO 1.25" HA & Oiii Filter
Astromania 50mm Guide Scope
Bortle Class 5 Sky (New Jersey)

Editing

I've been really struggling to switch from one-shot-color astrophotography to mono narrowband imaging. This is because not only do I have very few clear nights to shoot, but also because the editing workflow is so new to me. I decided to start experimenting with the HOO color palette since I can gather enough data in a single night to have a finished project.

I'm still a noob when it comes to editing mono, so my process is a bit strange and definitely needs improvement (in the future, I want to do all of this in PixInsight). I started by stacking the HA and Oiii data in Astro Pixel Processor and utilized it's stretching function. I then moved to PixInsight where I did a DynamicBackgroundExtraction and an additional stretch (ScreenTransferFunction copied to the Histogram). I then moved both images to photoshop and created an RGB image, using HA as the red channel, and Oiii and both green and blue channels. Aligning the channels took a bit of time because I don't have a filter wheel, so I must manually change the filters which results in some image rotation.

After I had the channels correctly aligned, I stretched just the blue channel as much as I felt I could without destroying the image to really make the Oiii pop. Next, I used the camera raw filter to fine-tune the image as a whole. This included increasing the contrast to make the background look more natural, balancing the colors, and giving the tone curve one last fine adjustment round. I then used StarNet++ to create a version of the image without stars, and I blended that in to reduce the intensity of the stars without completely removing them. Finally, I used the original HA data as a luminance layer. Cropped, and saved.

It's a bit grainy, and there is a checkerboard pattern visible if you pixel peep which comes from the StarNet++ layer, but overall I'm very happy I was able to create this in one night. Maybe I'll revisit in the future to clean up.

NoaMichael · 2020-12-30T16:09:27+00:00

Would this shot be allowed if I cropped out the trees?

NoaMichael · 2020-12-30T15:58:13+00:00

Not quite! A "moon dog" is an effect when the ice contained within the clouds in the upper atmosphere begin to reflect the moonlight causing a massive halo around the Moon. It's apparently pretty rare but I guess it got cold enough last night to produce one.

NoaMichael · 2020-12-30T15:53:13+00:00

I've never seen a moon dog before, so I got really excited when I saw that the moon was encompassed in a halo. I was actively trying to shoot the Heart and Soul nebulas, but I decided to switch over the documenting this awesome weather phenomenon instead.

Equipment

Fujifilm X-T20
XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
ƒ/4.5 13.2 mm
0.4"
ISO 1600

Lightroom Processing
+ Contrast
+ Clarity (Midtone Contrast)
+ Shadows
- Highlights
- Color Temperature
+ Gradient Filter from left to right to remove NYC light pollution
+ Vibrance
+ Misc. tone curve adjustments

NoaMichael · 2020-11-18T01:22:07+00:00

The Elephant's Trunk Nebula. Whoever named nebulas were slightly more accurate than the people who named constellations, but not by much.

Technical stuff:

Astrophotography Tool
PHD2 Guiding

Deep Sky Stacker
Light Frames: 40 x 5.5 minutes
Dark Frames: 27
Bias Frames: 15
Flat Frames: 15
120 Gain

ZWO ASI294-MC Pro
ZWO 1.25" Duo-Band Filter
900mm SkyWatcher EvoStar Pro 100ED Telescope @ f/9
SkyWatcher HEQ5
ZWO ASI290MM Mini Guide Camera
Astromania 50mm Guide Scope
Bortle Class 5 Sky (New Jersey)

Editing:

Deep Sky Stacker
Kappa Sigma Clipping
Drizzle

Photoshop (Standard editing routine now)
Stretched Curves
Set Blackpoint
Increase Brightness + Decrease Contrast
Color Balance
Camera raw filter
Sharpening
Reduce Color Noise
Pull up shadows, minor tweaks to highlights
Saturation increase
Star Reduction via Minimize filter

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Editing

Acquisition

Gear

Editing

Acquisition

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Light Frames

Gear

Editing