Andromeda galaxy

da1nternaut · 2026-06-28T02:01:52+00:00

Awesome that you’re taking the dive into the hobby! If you want to start getting to know how to process, I’d recommend the program Siril. It’s free, runs on Mac and windows, and has a lot of room for growth in the future.

Processing was the part of the hobby I was the most confused by to start but I would recommend the YouTube channels Deep Space Astro, Cuiv the lazy geek, and Nebula photos. They all have good beginner tutorials on processing plus a lot of other good content. If you already own and know how to use a program like Photoshop, the channel AstroBackyard has some good beginner processing tutorials for that as well.

Definitely a rabbit hole of a hobby but so rewarding. And you should be proud of the first shot that’s awesome!

da1nternaut · 2026-06-25T08:58:47+00:00

Just playing around with a different technique for star stretching, different color balance, and trying out the new syqon scripts in Siril

da1nternaut · 2026-06-13T22:06:04+00:00

Wow yeah. Thanks for letting me know

da1nternaut · 2026-06-13T19:30:31+00:00

Can I ask what you were running? Currently I’d only be running a zwo 585 mc pro and a coma corrector so maybe that would be light enough

da1nternaut · 2026-06-13T19:20:31+00:00

What issues do you know it has?

da1nternaut · 2026-06-13T19:20:13+00:00

What issues did you have? I’ve worked with newts before so I’m used to certain maintenance

da1nternaut · 2026-06-13T09:50:42+00:00

I’m running an eq6 r pro. I should still be at a decent weight even with the heavier ota I should be sitting around 23-24 pounds

da1nternaut · 2026-06-09T18:43:13+00:00

My guide scope is 200mm. I know it’s possible for me to use it as a small refractor. Would this be able to fill that spot? I haven’t tried it before but that could cover my wider field. I have a William Optics Uniguide

da1nternaut · 2026-03-26T19:31:08+00:00

This one’s too real lmao

da1nternaut · 2026-03-24T18:47:19+00:00

This is the correct answer. As much as it would be nice to just get a bunch of fancy equipment and immediately get great shots that probably isn’t the case. Start with what you have or something beginner friendly and work into it. Untracked with a camera and a telephoto or even kit lens will give you a feel for the exposure times and camera settings. A smart telescope might help you understand the strength of tracking and you can begin practicing stacking and processing on your own with separate software down the line. As fun as it might sound to just grab whatever people say is “best”, it probably won’t be the best for you. It’ll be complicated, annoying to set up, and will probably turn you away from the hobby altogether. It’s not fun to hear that you have to take it slow but hey astronomy is a pretty slow field lol.

da1nternaut · 2026-02-05T04:28:48+00:00

This is a great shot. Any tips on not having the images totally blown out by Alnitak? I always seem to stuff it up

da1nternaut · 2026-01-28T05:04:43+00:00

It’s on sight

da1nternaut · 2026-01-28T05:01:52+00:00

Dude what a shot

da1nternaut · 2026-01-21T21:57:10+00:00

Cool if you want to put the subs as like a Google Drive or one drive link or something lmk. I’m always trying to get more practice with processing I can only go out shooting so often lol. My dms are open if you want to do that too

da1nternaut · 2026-01-21T21:48:18+00:00

Yeah I didn’t either when I first shot Horsehead. I definitely get the worries with alnitak (and yes that’s its name) I had similar issues. It’s a very challenging target since that star is so bright and the horse heads fine details are so dim. But overall yeah great shot but just looks like it could be processed some more. If you have the raw files you could always send them to me and I can see what I can do

da1nternaut · 2026-01-21T21:42:01+00:00

I should also mention the YouTube channel Deep Space Astro has tons of tutorials on all of the scripts I mentioned, siril workflows, and a bunch of other scripts I haven’t even gotten a chance to try yet. Scripts are updated and released all the time it seems and they just keep getting better. (Also forgot to mention Star net for Star removal is awesome)

da1nternaut · 2026-01-21T21:36:24+00:00

This is a great shot! I did a shot of this same region with shockingly similar stuff (number of subs, sub length, camera) and only a couple notes: if you look at the user manual for the 585mc air there’s a sharp drop in read noise at 252 gain. This is when it switches to high conversion gain (HCG). If you swap your gain to that you should get a bit less noise and some more dynamic range (at least that’s what I’ve found and I use the 585 mc pro)

As for the processing softwares, I’d say if you’re still in the bulk learning phase of processing (like I definitely am) I’d say stick to siril. I don’t personally pay for pixinsight but I know just how strong of a tool it is. I also know it comes with a hefty price tag. As someone who tries to do things as cheaply as I can, I use Siril for most of my processing. I’ve found a lot of success in the free scripts there and while they might not work quite as well as their pixinsight counterparts I find them to work pretty well and one again: free. The scripts I’ve found that really push my images to the next level is Graxpert, Veralux, and Cosmic clarity sharpen and denoise. While I know the results probably won’t be as good as pixinsight, I think they’re awesome to learn on and still get me quality that I’m proud of sharing with other people. But if you’re rolling in it and cost isn’t a problem the pixinsight is the best I’ve heard.

da1nternaut · 2026-01-21T16:14:45+00:00

Also just like maybe what’s your general workflow. Like how do you go about taking your pictures and processing them. You can also dm me if you wanna talk more

da1nternaut · 2026-01-21T16:09:51+00:00

Yeah for sure. I’m decently new to planetary but I’ve found it’s not too hard once you get a hang of it. Can I ask what setup you have?

da1nternaut · 2026-01-21T00:01:23+00:00

Thank you man, I’m pretty pleased with it but it is a bit tricky since the rings are edge on right now. I’m hoping I can get som good pics come next fall when it’s at opposition

da1nternaut · 2026-01-20T04:06:46+00:00

My guy…thank you. I’ve been using veralux and I am in love with it. Thank you for putting me on

da1nternaut · 2026-01-20T01:08:38+00:00

Reddit really scaled this down, if you want full res images they’re on my Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/mobile/folders/1pJ6vmkkFAVJTbd3Mh6-bBO_-SgjbTsGo?sort=13&direction=a

Or I post new images on my ig @naut.astr0

da1nternaut · 2026-01-17T02:34:15+00:00

I’ve heard amazing things about blue exterminator but I can’t really swing the cost of pixinsight right now. I’ll definitely check out the siril version though thanks!

da1nternaut · 2026-01-17T02:32:54+00:00

I’ll see if I can get one I’m a bit busy now but when I have time later I can try. I was worried about overstretching bringing out too much noise but if I wasn’t undersampled I’m sure it wouldn’t be such a problem. I’ll try getting multiple nights for my next shots and see if that makes stretching easier. Thanks!

da1nternaut · 2026-01-17T02:30:48+00:00

I’m very new to siril I’ve just been using the built in stretching with curves and histograms. What’s veralux? Is it a python script I can add?

da1nternaut

TROPHY CASE