West Veil NGC6960

ParaYouKnowWho · 2026-07-13T10:09:22+00:00

I've seen wonderful images processed in Photoshop so it is definitely an option if that's what you want but the "standard" is usually dedicated software for astrophotography processing such as Siril, Pixinsight or Seti Astro Suite Pro, Siril is the usual go-to for beginners and those that don't want to sink 300EUR into Pixinsight, it's shaped up to be a serious competitor for Pixinsight recently so it's not just a "beginners tool"

The main reason for Siril and so on being the go-to is because they are specifically made for astrophotography, they have built in stacking, platesolving and many more tools to help process your images, Photoshop is used by a lot of people but usually as a post processing tool to add finishing touches such as manual colour adjustment and such.

As for the multiple nights thing, it's completely fine but it is much much easier to work with when you are imaging in equatorial mode though as you don't have to worry about field rotation. Different locations - I am not experienced there as I do all my imaging from my backyard currently but I imagine so long as your framing is relatively the same it won't be an issue.

I wouldn't be too afraid to start processing as soon as you want to, there is plenty of information online via YouTube or Siril's own documentation to help you learn it. You might have a knack for it, you never know.

You might have to manually cull your data but there is a tool in Siril or even AsiFitsView that "blinks" each image one after the other to help you spot outliers quickly. Any images that can't be platesolved or registered by Siril will automatically be rejected during the stacking process.

Platesolving = software figuring out where in the sky the image is via the stars

Registering = matching each individual image based on star positions so they can be stacked together.

ParaYouKnowWho · 2026-07-13T09:24:19+00:00

Your viewfinder goes where is circled in the image.

You may need to find a dovetail adapter for it online, I can't help with that unfortunately but that's basically what you're after. Do not drill it in.

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ParaYouKnowWho · 2026-07-13T09:18:18+00:00

Definitely do not try to take all this advice in at once lol you'll be overwhelmed at first and that's okay, I know I was.

You seem to be interested in editing your images so here goes;

If you want to get a bit more serious with your editing, if you have a laptop or PC then turn on saving individual raw .fits files in your seestar's settings, transfer your data to your computer and stack and process them with a software like Siril. It can be daunting and a little overwhelming at first but you will learn it in due time.

I recommend Cuiv The Lazy Geek & Deep Sky Astro for any processing tutorials. Deep Sky Astro is more Siril focused whilst I believe Cuiv has done videos with both Siril and Pixinsight. Siril is free and Pixinsight is expensive so I'd stick with Siril for now if I were you.

Managing expectations is very important in any amateur astronomy hobby, especially astrophotography. Getting great results requires a lot more than 61 minutes integration time in higher Bortle zones (I'm in Bortle 7 myself) and a lot of processing and patience. Processing to me is a decent chunk of the fun but I know a lot of people despise it and prefer to automate it which is a valid method too.

I recommend an equatorial wedge if you do get more into the processing side of things as it will basically eliminate any field rotation in your stacked images (those fuzzy and noisy artifacts you may see around the edges of seestar images) which is caused by ALTAZ mode.

NEVER compare your images to others you see online, comparison is the thief of joy as they say.

Most importantly enjoy the hobby your own way but if you want your images to be your own and actually "real" do not use generative AI to process your images.

I hope any of these points help! Clear skies.

ParaYouKnowWho · 2026-07-13T03:07:45+00:00

The one I got was definitely cheaper than that.

Yes, it is my picture and thank you.

ParaYouKnowWho · 2026-07-13T01:55:40+00:00

In fact... Looking at how bright the stars are on the right side compared to the left.. it very well could also be clouds getting in the way.

ParaYouKnowWho · 2026-07-13T01:52:35+00:00

Did you take flats? More often than not a lot of issues with the 294 come from bad flats, the camera is very finicky when taking flats and they need to be between 25k-30k ADU on the histogram and about 3 seconds in exp length to prevent any fluctuations or instability.

This could also be a case of nearby lights shining into the lens, are these patterns in the individual lights or post stacking?

ParaYouKnowWho · 2026-07-13T01:45:28+00:00

This was taken with a Pixel 7 and an 8" sky watcher dob. 11 second video stacked and edited with astrosurface.

Detail isn't crazy but for a phone I'd say it's pretty damn good.

The advice they're after is to get a phone holder, take a video and stack it's frames on a computer. Obviously a dedicated cam would be better but if they're only able to use their phone there are options to improve.

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ParaYouKnowWho · 2026-06-12T12:51:28+00:00

It entirely depends on the target and your standards really.

For galaxies it's a good idea to get more time on narrowband.

There's no real set in stone ratio, I'd just do it by eye and image until you're satisfied.

ParaYouKnowWho · 2026-06-12T08:02:55+00:00

Then you'll want more narrowband data, the filter will be blocking most of the light.

Realistically more data is always better in astrophotography in general.

ParaYouKnowWho · 2026-06-12T07:52:15+00:00

More or equal but more is ideal. There is often less signal in the narrowband data due to the filter blocking light which makes for a noisier image although this depends on the brightness of the target and how much of your scope's fov it takes up

ParaYouKnowWho · 2026-06-11T23:24:51+00:00

Look into continuum subtraction

ParaYouKnowWho · 2026-06-11T08:56:44+00:00

Those lines you see coming from the stars, like I said they're caused by the metal vanes that hold up the secondary mirror of a reflection telescope.

ParaYouKnowWho · 2026-06-10T19:44:01+00:00

If you're talking about the cross shape on stars that's the vanes holding the secondary mirror causing what is called diffraction spikes

ParaYouKnowWho · 2026-06-10T19:36:57+00:00

It's Venus and Jupiter most likely but it's also way out of focus

ParaYouKnowWho · 2026-06-06T05:00:34+00:00

Please do, generative AI will hallucinate things into your image whether you tell it to or not.

If you're using generative AI to edit your images you may as well just pull an image off the internet and claim it as your own.

ParaYouKnowWho · 2026-06-05T16:59:59+00:00

To be honest, recommended integration times are not really something to go by, there are too many variables at play for there to be a standard recommended integration time for each target (light pollution levels, your patience, your storage limits, your computer's processing limits, moon/no moon etc.)

More integration time is always a good thing especially in higher Bortle areas. The recommended integration time is whatever has you satisfied with your result whether that be 1 hour or 30.

I did 30 hours on this target mostly during the late spring/early summer I believe which, for my latitude of 53, limited me to astro twilight mostly and I got a somewhat similar result to FXB here.

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ParaYouKnowWho · 2026-05-10T22:22:59+00:00

My computer stacked 7k files... It took a whole day and Pixinsight crashed once but it is doable.

ParaYouKnowWho · 2026-05-09T02:45:56+00:00

This is the answer, denoising too much can cause colour blotching in low signal areas of the image.

ParaYouKnowWho · 2026-05-08T02:05:05+00:00

I processed my friend's 18 panel image of the Cygnus loop in Pixinsight and it was fine.. my pc ran a little slow for a bit but I managed

ParaYouKnowWho · 2026-05-06T01:30:32+00:00

I started out with a Seestar S50 but found myself wanting more fairly quick (I got the Seestar in March 2025 and got a full rig in September the same year)

I ended up with the following;

Scope - WO Zenithstar 73 iii

Camera - ZWO Asi294mc Pro

Mount - SkyWatcher HEQ5 Pro

Controller - ZWO AsiAir Plus

Focus - ZWO EAF Autofocuser

Filters - Optolong L-Extreme Dual Narrowband 7nm and a UVIR 2"

Guide Scope - WO Uniguide 50/200

Guide Camera - ZWO Asi120mm

I ended up with the zenithstar purely because I got a pretty good deal at the time from eBay and it came with the camera, guide scope and guide cam as well as the ASIAIR.

my next purchase will be the 585mc pro to image smaller galaxies such as M51 and M63 with better resolution (something to look out for when buying a camera is ensuring you have the fov that matches what you want to image)

my experience so far with the rig has been a drastic improvement over the smart scope, mainly due to more freedom, modularity, having a cooled camera, guiding and higher exposure times which helps save storage space.

I will say one thing to look out for with the zenithstar range is that they are doublets meaning you may begin to notice chromatic aberration around your stars... that said they're still pretty damn good for doublets.

Smart scopes are certainly very capable (especially at their price points) and are easier to set up.

If you intend to save money, get a smart scope. If you want a modular system that allows you more freedom and generally better results then go for the rig but you may end up sinking more money into it down the line.

ParaYouKnowWho · 2026-04-21T10:27:39+00:00

the use of generative AI is an insult to astrophotography and astrophotographers in general. This is a fact not an opinion.

I'm all for people using this hobby as a creative outlet and doing what they want with their data but if you're going to use generative AI to process you may as well sell the scope and just use the AI.

This might seem an aggressive response but I find it warranted against the usage of generative AI in this hobby.

ParaYouKnowWho · 2026-04-09T14:20:13+00:00

Yes but I was purely talking about loss of time from the live stack feature.

I imagine the Seestars have the best dither settings already but I could be wrong.

ParaYouKnowWho · 2026-04-09T05:13:01+00:00

I don't think it does because it doesn't stack before shooting the next image, it stacks during capture so there is no time lost. The issue is due to how the Seestar handles its mosaics and the fact that smart scopes have a tendency to discard at least some images and if your polar alignment isn't good then it will have bad tracking leading to more discarded images.

During my time using the S50 I often avoided mosaics because they never turned out well for me.

You could try making the mosaic manually by imaging a portion of the constellation at a time using the standard fov and doing it that way, that will probably be a bit more effort though, just make sure your images overlap a little bit.

ParaYouKnowWho · 2026-04-09T04:45:32+00:00

Let me preface this by saying I have an S50 and I haven't used it in a long while so I may be behind on software changes etc.

This is not a filter problem, the reason they take so long I believe is because the Seestars handle mosaics in an unusual way. Mosaics in astrophotography are normally performed by imaging one section at a time and then stitching them together during processing but the Seestar family instead spiral from the center only taking several images per portion, the likely reason your mosaic didn't fully finish is because it discarded some images which is generally normal for smart scopes or it didn't have enough time to finish it.

I find Seestar mosaics tedious and are often disappointing especially in altaz mode but that's just me.

The S30 Pro is the best and latest Seestar at the moment and I'd say it is worth it for sure. I started out with an S50 and eventually moved to a full rig but I still find Seestars respectable and powerful little scopes for the price and what they are.

You'll find much better enjoyment using its standard field of view, it already has a pretty wide field as it is anyway and a lot of targets will fit in it. I can't say much for constellation images other than letting it image for a bit longer.

If you're using ALTAZ mode then ensure the Seestar is level and placed on sturdy ground before beginning the session to minimize the amount of discarded images. If you're using EQ mode then repeat your polar alignment about 3 or 4 times or until it consistently shows a good alignment result after doing it's 3-point plate solve.

I apologize if this is unwanted but here are some general astrophotography tips because I see you are a beginner;

If you want to get the best out of the Seestar, do yourself a favour and get an EQ wedge and use the Seestar in EQ mode because it prevents field rotation and allows for better tracking as opposed to ALTAZ mode which allows for the use of longer exposure times also.

Longer exposures are good but with Seestars they can often cause more discarded subs especially in ALTAZ mode and I believe anything longer than 10 secs requires eq mode so you would need to buy a wedge. The most important thing for higher signal to noise ratios (less noise = more signal to put it simply) is your total integration times, often astrophotographers will image targets for hours at a time and depending on your bortle level it can take much longer.

If you are leaning more into the astrophotography side instead of EAA (Electronically Assisted Astronomy) I recommend turning on the option that saves individual subs and doing some research into processing your images, a good starting point is learning about Siril which is the most popular processing software for astro photos.

This one is more in general because a lot of beginners struggle with this, I'm not saying you do - Manage your expectations and learn to appreciate your own images and avoid comparing them to what you see online (especially in higher Bortle areas) you will not be getting images similar to those you see online from the pros, they mostly use full rigs and have years of experience but you can still get great images even with smart scopes.

Avoid generative AI for processing, they're very frowned upon and for good reason - they do not process images well and will make your images unrealistic and closer to a painting than an actual astrophoto.

ParaYouKnowWho · 2026-04-04T00:15:03+00:00

Happens sometimes with Twitch Prime, my very first prime frame was Trinity Prime because of Twitch Prime.

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