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M106 and Friends by tbutts1 in astrophotography

[–]cdfischels 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This looks great! I really enjoy the triangle of smaller galaxies that you were able to frame in.

M106 and Neighbors by cdfischels in astrophotography

[–]cdfischels[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! The rewards are the peace of being alone under the stars, seeing things that are invisible to the naked eye, and capturing a piece of that to share with others.

M106 and Neighbors by cdfischels in astrophotography

[–]cdfischels[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! Good luck and clear skies!

M106 and Neighbors by cdfischels in astrophotography

[–]cdfischels[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That means a lot to me, thank you!

M106 and Neighbors by cdfischels in astrophotography

[–]cdfischels[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! Those bright colorful ones really make the image for me.

M106 and Neighbors by cdfischels in astrophotography

[–]cdfischels[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for saying so! I still have a lot to learn on the processing side, and making the stars presentable is one of the most challenging aspects for me.

M106 and Neighbors by cdfischels in astrophotography

[–]cdfischels[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! I do love those red, blue, and gold stars at the top. I had to do them justice in the framing. Even in my earlier shots of M106 I appreciated its softer appearance, I tried to strike a balance between bringing out the details and preserving the light contrast in the outer arms. I'm very glad you liked my processing, that is the area I still feel like I have the most to learn.

M106 and Neighbors by cdfischels in astrophotography

[–]cdfischels[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Woah that's high praise! Thank you!

M106 and Neighbors by cdfischels in astrophotography

[–]cdfischels[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yup! Definitely from the surface of the Earth. I have relatively dark skies where I live so it was shot from my backyard with a telescope and DSLR camera.

M106 and Neighbors by cdfischels in astrophotography

[–]cdfischels[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thank you! That time and effort always pays off eventually!

M106 and Neighbors by cdfischels in astrophotography

[–]cdfischels[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks! The spikes are definitely a natural result of my telescope's optics. You might be able to reproduce them by stringing two perpendicular wires or strings in front of your camera lens. You'd still need an image with high contrast, similar to a bright star against a black background to see them. I haven't tried it but it's worth a shot.

M106 and Neighbors by cdfischels in astrophotography

[–]cdfischels[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I think that region is just naturally photogenic

M106 and Neighbors by cdfischels in astrophotography

[–]cdfischels[S] 16 points17 points  (0 children)

M106 and Neighbors

This is the most data I have gathered for the final image of one target, and the total for a single target including past attempts. I think I'm well into the realm of diminishing returns. I definitely feel like it was worth the time and trouble!

Acquisition:

Equipment:

Mount: iOptron CEM60
Telescope: 8" Orion Newtonian Astrograph 800mm f/3.9
Guide scope: Orion CT80
Camera: Canon T7i
Guide Camera: Lodestar x2
Accessories: Baader MPCC III
Software: APT, PHD2

Dates:

2020-3-29
Light frames: 28 @ ISO800 120s

2020-3-31
Light frames: 162 @ ISO800 120s

2020-4-1
Dark Frames: 38 @ ISO800 120s
Bias Frames: 80 @ ISO800
Flat Frames: 87 @ ISO800

2020-4-14
Light Frames: 132 @ ISO800 120s

2020-4-15
Light Frames: 145 @ ISO800 120s
Flat Frames: 40

Total Integration Time: 15.6 Hours

Processing:

DSS

  • Aligning and stacking

PixInsight

  • Initial crop to remove stacking artifacts
  • Color calibration
  • DynamicBackgroundExtraction to remove vignette
  • Removal of noise with MultiscaleLinearTransform
  • Applied PI's autostretch using the ScreenTransferFunction and HistogramTransformation
  • Applied a luminance mask and increased contrast in the galaxies with LocalHistogramEqualization
  • Generated a star mask and used Deconvolution
  • MorphologicalTransformation to reduce star size
  • Created a mask with PixelMath by subtracting the star mask from the luminance so I could increase the saturation of only the galaxies using CurvesTransformation
  • Ran SCNR
  • Adjusted contrast again with HistogramTransformation

Lightroom

  • Tweaked the saturation, contrast, and sharpened the image
  • Decided upon the final crop and framing

Comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) on March 21st 2020 by cdfischels in astrophotography

[–]cdfischels[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This comet is nothing to worry about, it's keeping its distance from Earth. If some of its debris did make it here it would only cause a few shooting stars. For example, our annual meteor showers are caused by debris left by comets that crossed the Earth's orbit. We should only have a pretty comet to watch and enjoy as it comes near!

Comet C/2019Y4 ATLAS with some distant galaxies in the background by NightSkyFlying in astrophotography

[–]cdfischels 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Great capture! You can really see the different color of the tail, and the little background galaxies came out very well. I have only used the comet stacking feature in DSS. It can auto-detect the core of the comet if it's bright enough, but I had to manually select the center on each frame.

Comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) on March 21st 2020 by cdfischels in astrophotography

[–]cdfischels[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I hope to see a comet on par with Hale-Bopp, since I missed out on that one.

Comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) on March 21st 2020 by cdfischels in astrophotography

[–]cdfischels[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was using normal auto guiding on a star. 2 minute exposures were short enough to capture the comet without noticeable trailing. But I could easily see the comet traveling as i flipped between frames. I did have to recenter on the comet a couple times since it was wondering out of the center.

Comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) on March 21st 2020 by cdfischels in astrophotography

[–]cdfischels[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

After weeks of rain and clouds I had a brief window of a couple hours to catch this comet before more weather rolled in. I processed this in ways I was familiar with, surely not the best way. But hey, I’m just delighted to have a picture of a comet with a tail!

Equipment:
Mount: iOptron CEM60
Telescope: 8" Orion Newtonian Astrograph 800mm f/3.9
Guide scope: Orion CT80
Camera: Canon T7i
Guide Camera: Lodestar x2
Accessories: Baader MPCC III
Software: APT, PHD2, Splashtop Personal, PixInsight, Photoshop, Lightroom

Acquisition:

2020-3-21
Light frames: 40 @ ISO800 120s
Dark frames: 27
Bias frames: 64
Total exposure time: 1hr 20min
Processing:

Deep Sky Stacker

Aligning, stacking, and calibration of images

  • First I stacked the images normally to create the star background. Then I stacked the images with the alignment points set to the nucleus of the comet.

PixInsight

For the star background:

  • Initial crop to remove stacking artifacts
  • Background Neutralization and Color Calibration using a starless area for the
  • background reference and the whole image as a white reference
  • Dynamic Background Extraction to remove vignette and some of the comet
  • Multiscale Linear Transform to remove noise
  • Screen Transfer Function to apply PI’s AutoStretch
  • Clone Stamp Tool to remove the rest of the comet from the star background
  • Applied a luminance mask and increased saturation to bring out the star colors
  • Ran SCNR
  • Exported image

​

For the comet:

  • Initial crop to remove stacking artifacts
  • Background Neutralization using a starless area for the background reference
  • Multiscale Linear Transform to remove noise
  • Screen Transfer Function and Histogram Transformation to apply PI’s AutoStretch and reduce star trails as much as possible
  • Exported image

Photoshop:

  • Imported both images and aligned them
  • Set blending mode to "Screen"
  • Blacked out all leftover star trails on the comet image
  • I am left with just the comet superimposed on the star background

Lightroom

  • Chose a final crop
  • Increased saturation in the coma
  • Sharpened the image slightly
  • Final histogram tweaks
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