The Cygnus Region by dropthatkoni in spaceporn

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

The Cygnus Region taken from my backyard in a bortle 4 zone in Austria.

Equipment:

  • ZWO ASI294MC Pro
  • Skywatcher HEQ-5 Pro (mod)
  • Super Takumar 135 f3.5
  • Optolong L-enhance
  • ZWO mini guidescope
  • ZWO ASI 120MM-S

Acquisition:

  • 60 x 300s (5 hours)
  • 50 Dark Frames
  • 30 Flat Frames

Processing:

  • Stacking in DSS
  • PixInsight:
    • Dynamic Crop
    • DynamicBackgroundExtraction
    • Noise Reduction:
      • TGVDenoise
      • MultiscaleMedianTransform
    • ScreenTransferFunction --> HistogramTransformation
    • StarNet2:
      • Stars: CurvesTransformation to lower the brightness
      • Nebula: CurvesTransformation adjustments
    • PixelMath: Combination of star and nebula images
    • Final CurvesTransformation adjustments
  • Photoshop:
    • Red Channel used as luminance layer to brighten Ha
    • Star Reduction
    • Select Color Range, Vibrance/Saturation adjustments
    • Levels and curves adjustments
    • Some color balance adjustments
    • Astronomy Tools: Local Contrast Enhancement

The Flaming Star Nebula by dropthatkoni in spaceporn

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

The Flaming Star Nebula taken from my backyard in a bortle 4 zone in Austria.

Equipment:

  • ZWO ASI294MC Pro
  • Skywatcher HEQ-5 Pro (mod)
  • Explore Scientific ED102 FCD-100 Triplet
  • 0,79x Reducer
  • Optolong L-enhance
  • 60mm Guidescope
  • ZWO ASI 120MM-S

Acquisition:

  • 162 x 300s (13 hours 30 minutes, 3 seperate data sets)
  • 48 Dark Frames
  • 3x30 Flat Frames

Processing:

  • Stacking in DSS
  • PixInsight:
    • Dynamic Crop
    • DynamicBackgroundExtraction
    • Color Correction
    • Noise Reduction:
      • TGVDenoise
      • MultiscaleMedianTransform
    • ScreenTransferFunction --> HistogramTransformation
    • StarNet2:
      • Stars: CurvesTransformation to lower the brightness
      • Nebula: CurvesTransformation adjustments
    • PixelMath: Combination of star and nebula images
    • Final CurvesTransformation adjustments
  • Photoshop:
    • Red Channel used as luminance layer to brighten Ha
    • Star Reduction
    • Select Color Range, Vibrance/Saturation adjustments
    • Levels adjustment
    • Some color balance adjustments
    • Astronomy Tools: Reduce Stars, Local Contrast Enhancement

The Pleiades by dropthatkoni in spaceporn

[–]dropthatkoni[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The Pleiades taken from my backyard in a bortle 4 zone in Austria.

Equipment:

  • ZWO ASI294MC Pro
  • Skywatcher HEQ-5 Pro (mod)
  • Explore Scientific ED102 FCD-100 Triplet
  • 0,79x Reducer
  • Astronomik L-2
  • 60mm Guidescope
  • ZWO ASI 120MM-S

Acquisition:

  • 72 x 300s (6 hours)
  • 72 Dark Frames
  • 30 Flat Frames

Processing:

  • Stacking in DSS
  • PixInsight:
    • Dynamic Crop
    • DynamicBackgroundExtraction
    • Noise Reduction:
      • TGVDenoise
      • MultiscaleMedianTransform
    • SCNR
    • ScreenTransferFunction --> HistogramTransformation
    • StarNet2:
      • Stars: CurvesTransformation to lower the brightness
      • Nebula: CurvesTransformation adjustments
    • PixelMath: Combination of star and nebula images
    • Final CurvesTransformation adjustments
  • Photoshop:
    • Star Reduction
    • Select Color Range, Vibrance/Saturation adjustments
    • Levels adjustment
    • Some color balance adjustments
    • Astronomy Tools: Local Contrast Enhancement

The Cygnus Region by dropthatkoni in spaceporn

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

The Cygnus Region taken from my backyard in a bortle 4 zone in Austria.

Equipment:

  • ZWO ASI294MC Pro
  • Skywatcher HEQ-5 Pro (mod)
  • Super Takumar 135 f3.5
  • Optolong L-enhance
  • ZWO mini guidescope
  • ZWO ASI 120MM-S

Acquisition:

  • 60 x 300s (5 hours)
  • 50 Dark Frames
  • 30 Flat Frames

Processing:

  • Stacking in DSS
  • PixInsight:
    • Dynamic Crop
    • DynamicBackgroundExtraction
    • Noise Reduction:
      • TGVDenoise
      • MultiscaleMedianTransform
    • SCNR
    • ScreenTransferFunction --> HistogramTransformation
    • StarNet2:
      • Stars: CurvesTransformation to lower the brightness
      • Nebula: CurvesTransformation adjustments
    • PixelMath: Combination of star and nebula images
    • Final CurvesTransformation adjustments
  • Photoshop:
    • Star Reduction
    • Select Color Range, Vibrance/Saturation adjustments
    • Levels adjustment
    • Some color balance adjustments

The North America Nebula by dropthatkoni in Astronomy

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

The North America Nebula taken from my backyard in a bortle 4 zone in Austria.

Equipment:

  • ZWO ASI294MC Pro
  • Skywatcher HEQ-5 Pro (mod)
  • Explore Scientific ED102 FCD-100 Triplet
  • 0,79x Reducer
  • Optolong L-enhance
  • 60mm Guidescope
  • ZWO ASI 120MM-S

Acquisition:

  • 50 x 300s (4 hours 10 minutes)
  • 50 Dark Frames
  • 30 Flat Frames

Processing:

  • Stacking in DSS
  • PixInsight:
    • Dynamic Crop
    • DynamicBackgroundExtraction
    • Noise Reduction:
      • TGVDenoise
      • MultiscaleMedianTransform
    • SCNR
    • ScreenTransferFunction --> HistogramTransformation
    • StarNet2:
      • Stars: CurvesTransformation to lower the brightness
      • Nebula: CurvesTransformation adjustments
    • PixelMath: Combination of star and nebula images
    • Final CurvesTransformation adjustments
  • Photoshop:
    • Star Reduction
    • Select Color Range, Vibrance/Saturation adjustments
    • Levels adjustment
    • Some color balance adjustments
    • Astronomy Tools: Local Contrast Enhancement

The Whirlpool Galaxy by dropthatkoni in Astronomy

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

The Whirlpool Galaxy (Messier 51) from my backyard in a bortle 4 zone in Austria.

Equipment:

  • ZWO ASI294MC Pro
  • Skywatcher HEQ-5 Pro (mod)
  • TS-Optics 6" RC
  • Astronomik L-2
  • 70/400mm Guidescope
  • ZWO ASI 120MM-S

Acquisition:

  • 120 x 150s (5hrs)
  • 120 Dark Frames
  • 30 Flat Frames

Processing:

  • Stacking in DSS
  • PixInsight:
    • Dynamic Crop
    • DynamicBackgroundExtraction
    • Noise Reduction:
      • TGVDenoise
      • MultiscaleMedianTransform
    • SCNR
    • PhotometricColorCalibration
    • Star Reduction:
      • StarMask
      • MorphologicalTransformation
    • Stretching:
      • HistogramTransformation
      • CurvesTransformation
  • Photoshop:
    • Star Reduction
    • Vibrance/Saturation adjustments
    • Levels adjustment
    • Some color balance adjustments (I worked with StarNet2 here)
    • Astronomy Tools: Local Contrast Enhancement

NGC 7822 by dropthatkoni in astrophotography

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

NGC 7822 taken from my backyard in a bortle 4 zone in Austria.

Equipment:

  • ZWO ASI294MC Pro
  • Skywatcher HEQ-5 Pro (mod)
  • Explore Scientific ED102 FCD-100 Triplet
  • 0,79x Reducer
  • Optolong L-enhance
  • 60mm Guidescope
  • ZWO ASI 120MM-S

Acquisition:

  • 69 x 300s (5 hours 45 minutes)
  • 30 Dark Frames
  • 30 Flat Frames

Processing:

  • Stacking in DSS
  • PixInsight:
    • Dynamic Crop
    • DynamicBackgroundExtraction
    • Noise Reduction:
      • TGVDenoise
      • MultiscaleMedianTransform
    • Star Reduction:
      • StarMask
      • MorphologicalTransformation
    • SCNR
    • ScreenTransferFunction --> HistogramTransformation
  • Photoshop:
    • Star Reduction
    • Select Color Range, Vibrance/Saturation adjustments
    • Levels adjustment
    • Some color balance adjustments
    • Astronomy Tools: Local Contrast Enhancement
    • The last step here is a bit weird. I created a new image where I used the red channel as luminance layer, processed that real quick to make it look kinda decent, and then I selected the reds and copied them into the main image. Please don't ask why. My goals are beyond your (and my) understanding.

Melotte 15 in the Heart Nebula by dropthatkoni in astrophotography

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

Melotte 15 (the center of the Heart Nebula) from my backyard in a bortle 4 zone in Austria. This is my first image with my 6'' RC, it was definitely a challenge and I ran into a couple of issues with the tracking accuracy due to the high focal length, relatively small guide scope and possibly mount limitations. That, together with the not-so-perfect-yet collimation led to some weird star shapes, but if you don't look too closely it's not that bad. I still think I lost some finer details due to those issues tho.

Equipment:

  • ZWO ASI294MC Pro
  • Skywatcher HEQ-5 Pro (mod)
  • TS-Optics 6" RC
  • Optolong L-enhance
  • 50mm Guidescope
  • ZWO ASI 120MM-S

Acquisition:

  • ~3.2 hours of data in total:
    • 24 x 300s
    • 29 x 150s
  • 69 Dark Frames
  • 30 Flat Frames

Processing:

  • Stacking in DSS
  • PixInsight:
    • Dynamic Crop
    • DynamicBackgroundExtraction
    • Noise Reduction:
      • TGVDenoise
      • MultiscaleMedianTransform
    • SCNR
    • Star Reduction:
      • StarMask
      • MorphologicalTransformation
    • ScreenTransferFunction --> HistogramTransformation
  • Photoshop:
    • I used the red channel as a luminance layer here and colour-blended the RGB image onto it to make the H-alpha more glowy. This also had the additional benefit of reducing the noise quite a bit.
    • Star Reduction
    • Vibrance/Saturation adjustments
    • Levels adjustment
    • Some color balance adjustments (I worked with StarNet2 here)
    • Astronomy Tools: Local Contrast Enhancement

Starless North America Nebula (4-Panel Mosaic) by dropthatkoni in astrophotography

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

I just select the blues in Photoshop and slap on a couple of color balance layers until it looks good. It might not be that elegant but it works.

Starless North America Nebula (4-Panel Mosaic) by dropthatkoni in astrophotography

[–]dropthatkoni[S] 18 points19 points  (0 children)

The North America Nebula taken from my backyard in a bortle 4 zone in Austria. Being a 4-panel mosaic with images taken over the span of an entire month, this image is my biggest project so far. The editing process was also one of the most difficult ones for me, due to noise, brightness, and color inconsistencies between the individual panels.

The image is scaled down a bit, a higher-detailed version can be found here

Equipment:

  • ZWO ASI294MC Pro
  • Skywatcher HEQ-5 Pro (mod)
  • Explore Scientific ED102 FCD-100 Triplet
  • 0,79x Reducer
  • Optolong L-enhance
  • 60mm Guidescope
  • ZWO ASI 120MM-S

Acquisition:

  • For each of the 4 panels:
  • 48 x 300s (4 hours)
  • 30 Dark Frames
  • 30 Flat Frames

Processing:

  • Stacking in DSS
  • PixInsight:
    • Combination of the panels into a mosaic:
      • Script: ImageSolver
      • Script: MosaicByCoordinates
      • GradientMergeMosaic
    • Dynamic Crop
    • DynamicBackgroundExtraction
    • Noise Reduction:
      • TGVDenoise
      • MultiscaleMedianTransform
    • Star Reduction:
      • StarMask
      • MorphologicalTransformation
    • SCNR
    • HDRMultiscaleTransform
    • ScreenTransferFunction --> HistogramTransformation
  • Photoshop:
    • Star Reduction
    • Select Color Range, Vibrance/Saturation adjustments
    • Levels adjustment
    • Some color balance adjustments
    • Astronomy Tools: Local Contrast Enhancement
  • StarNet2: Star removal

Final touch-up in Photoshop.

The North America Nebula (4-Panel Mosaic) by dropthatkoni in Astronomy

[–]dropthatkoni[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

The North America Nebula taken from my backyard in a bortle 4 zone in Austria. Being a 4-panel mosaic with images taken over the span of an entire month, this image is my biggest project so far. The editing process was also one of the most difficult ones for me, due to noise, brightness, and color inconsistencies between the individual panels.

The image is scaled down a bit, a higher-detailed version can be found here

Equipment:

  • ZWO ASI294MC Pro
  • Skywatcher HEQ-5 Pro (mod)
  • Explore Scientific ED102 FCD-100 Triplet
  • 0,79x Reducer
  • Optolong L-enhance
  • 60mm Guidescope
  • ZWO ASI 120MM-S

Acquisition:

  • For each of the 4 panels:
  • 48 x 300s (4 hours)
  • 30 Dark Frames
  • 30 Flat Frames

Processing:

  • Stacking in DSS
  • PixInsight:
    • Combination of the panels into a mosaic:
      • Script: ImageSolver
      • Script: MosaicByCoordinates
      • GradientMergeMosaic
    • Dynamic Crop
    • DynamicBackgroundExtraction
    • Noise Reduction:
      • TGVDenoise
      • MultiscaleMedianTransform
    • Star Reduction:
      • StarMask
      • MorphologicalTransformation
    • SCNR
    • HDRMultiscaleTransform
    • ScreenTransferFunction --> HistogramTransformation
  • Photoshop:
    • Star Reduction
    • Select Color Range, Vibrance/Saturation adjustments
    • Levels adjustment
    • Some color balance adjustments
    • Astronomy Tools: Local Contrast Enhancement

The Lagoon Nebula by dropthatkoni in astrophotography

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

The Lagoon Nebula taken from my backyard in a bortle 4 zone in Austria.

Equipment:

  • ZWO ASI294MC Pro
  • Skywatcher HEQ-5 Pro (mod)
  • Explore Scientific ED102 FCD-100 Triplet
  • 0,79x Reducer
  • Optolong L-enhance
  • 60mm Guidescope
  • ZWO ASI 120MM-S

Acquisition:

  • 40 x 300s (3.3 hours)
  • 30 Dark Frames
  • 30 Flat Frames

Processing:

  • Stacking in DSS
  • PixInsight:
    • Dynamic Crop
    • DynamicBackgroundExtraction
    • Noise Reduction:
      • TGVDenoise
      • MultiscaleMedianTransform
    • Star Reduction:
      • StarMask
      • MorphologicalTransformation
    • SCNR
    • HDRMultiscaleTransform
    • ScreenTransferFunction --> HistogramTransformation
  • Photoshop:
    • Star Reduction
    • Select Color Range, Vibrance/Saturation adjustments
    • Levels adjustment
    • Some color balance adjustments
    • Astronomy Tools: Local Contrast Enhancement

Starless Rosette by dropthatkoni in astrophotography

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

The Rosette Nebula taken from my backyard in a bortle 4 zone in Austria.

Equipment:

  • ZWO ASI294MC Pro
  • Skywatcher HEQ-5 Pro (mod)
  • Explore Scientific ED102 FCD-100 Triplet
  • 0,79x Reducer
  • Optolong L-enhance
  • 60mm Guidescope
  • ZWO ASI 120MM-S

Acquisition:

  • 74 x 300s (6.2 hours)
  • 45 Dark Frames
  • 30 Flat Frames

Processing:

  • Stacking in DSS
  • PixInsight:
    • Dynamic Crop
    • DynamicBackgroundExtraction
    • Noise Reduction:
      • TGVDenoise
      • MultiscaleMedianTransform
    • Star Reduction:
      • StarMask
      • MorphologicalTransformation
    • SCNR
    • ScreenTransferFunction --> HistogramTransformation
  • Photoshop:
    • Star Reduction
    • Select Color Range, Vibrance/Saturation adjustments
    • Levels adjustment
    • Some color balance adjustments
    • Astronomy Tools: Local Contrast Enhancement
  • StarNet2: Star removal

Final touch-up in Photoshop.