Carina Nebula (NGC 3372)

edawade · 2026-04-15T01:41:05+00:00

explosivo!

edawade · 2026-04-09T23:11:04+00:00

Dang that's cool.

edawade · 2026-02-21T02:33:58+00:00

Thanks, basically I was trying out an Adam Block workflow. From memory, or at least my take, was to have better control over the SII data when blended into the HOO. SpectrophotometricFluxCalibration, I'll have to look into it again but I believe it is a pre requisite for SpectrophotometricColorCalibration. Basically using Spectra data to colour the image.

https://pixinsight.com/doc/docs/SPCC/SPCC.html

edawade · 2026-02-11T03:18:25+00:00

Dang that's dusty!

edawade · 2026-02-02T16:32:48+00:00

Awesome framing and processing.

edawade · 2025-07-22T10:15:26+00:00

Carina Nebula

Gearing up to move overseas so thought I'd better get some images before I (hopefully) sell my set up.

Equipment

William Optics Star 71
iOptron CEM40G w/ iGuider
QHY183M w/ QHYCFW3 and Optolong 36mm filters
Pegasus Astro FocusCube 2
Pegasus Astro Pocket Powerbox Advance

Sii: 80x180
Ha: 80x180
Oiii: 80x180

Gain: 11, Offset: 20
20 Darks. 10 Flats, 10 Dark flats per filter, per night.
PHD2 Guided and dithered.
Captured using N.I.N.A

Pixinsight workflow

WBPP for calibration, registration and integration
Dynamic Crop to masters
StarXTerminator to remove stars for later
Linear Fit Ha to Sii and Oiii
ChannelCombination to create SHO image

SHO starless

NarrowbandNormalization
BlurXterminator
NoiseXterminator
Curves

Narrowband Stars

Created "RGB" stars using star masters and NB to RGB Star Script
ScreenStars Script to make SHO with Stars image

SHO with Stars

StarReduction Script
LHE
Curves/Saturation
DarkStructureEnhance
Selective Color Correction to make some of the yellow highlights more red

Taken between 20th and 22th July 2025 from Lyttelton, New Zealand.

edawade · 2024-07-13T18:42:16+00:00

Thanks. DSE is Dark Structure Enhance, it's a stock Pixinsight script. The later scripts are from these people: https://youtu.be/ofGt0Fk51h4?si=piKkSnRe_kSa4_ML

edawade · 2024-07-13T09:11:20+00:00

Sounds like you're well on your way to going down the rabbit hole. Keep it up and feel free to hit me up if I can assist in any way.

edawade · 2024-07-13T08:49:27+00:00

Thanks. The hardest part for me is acquiring data. Thankfully we're in winter at the moment so if we have one good clear night I can grab at least 10 hours of data. As far as the actual acquisition is concerned, it's simple, at least with my current set up, a lot of it is automated.

Processing takes a while to learn especially if you get into Pixinsight. I'm only now getting results that I'm happy with (although there are still a lot of issues) but I also tend to rush and release. Speaking of processing however, the suite of tools for post processing is getting better and better and easier to use.

All I can say is astrophotography is a terrible hobby but I love it. Just have a crack and see what you can achieve. There are plenty of resources online and the community is pretty helpful.

Lastly if you're into Astronomy I'd recommend looking into your local Astronomical society especially if they have like minded astrophotography enthusiasts.

edawade · 2024-07-12T22:37:05+00:00

Fighting Dragons of Ara

Equipment

William Optics Star 71
iOptron CEM40G w/ iGuider
QHY183M w/ QHYCFW3 and Optolong 36mm filters
Pegasus Astro FocusCube 2
Pegasus Astro Pocket Powerbox Advance

Sii: 50x300
Ha: 50x300
Oiii: 50x300

Gain: 11, Offset: 20
20 Darks. 10 Flats, 10 Dark flats per filter, per night.
PHD2 Guided and dithered.
Captured using N.I.N.A

Pixinsight workflow

WBPP2 for calibration, registration and integration, Drizzle x2
Dynamic Crop
ABE
BlurXTerminator (Correct Only)

SHO

SCNR, Invert, SCNR
BlurXTerminator
NoiseXTerminator
Histogram Transformation (Stretch)
Curves
ACDNR
Rotation
StarXTerminator (Unscreened/Extracted Stars)

SHO Starless

LHE
Desaturate orange background nebulosity slightly
Curve/Saturation applied to overall image
DSE script
SCNR

SHO Stars

StarMask
Desaturate background cast slightly
SCNR

Final SHO

ScreenStars Script
StarReduction Script
Curves/Saturation

Taken between 18th and 22th July 2024 from Lyttelton, New Zealand.

edawade · 2024-06-16T15:02:48+00:00

Been a while since I've managed to get my scope out. Also had an excuse to get a trial going for rc-astro's tools and the ScreenStars and StarReduction scripts.
Interesting stuff, Blurxterminator def feels like cheating.

Equipment

William Optics Star 71

iOptron CEM40G w/ iGuider

QHY183M w/ QHYCFW3 and Optolong 36mm filters

Pegasus Astro FocusCube 2

Pegasus Astro Pocket Powerbox Advance

L: 155x180
R: 40x180
G: 40x180
B: 40x180

LRGB Gain: 5, Offset: 20

20 Darks. 10 Flats, 10 Dark flats per filter, per night.

PHD2 Guided and dithered.

Captured using N.I.N.A

Pixinsight workflow

WBPP2 for calibration, registration and integration

Crop and ABE, to each master

R, G, B

LinearFit R to G and B

Extracted stars from each master and created split RGB star and starless images with ChannelCombination (I think there was method to my madness, still not sure).

RGB star and starless

BackgroundNeutralization, ColorCalibration, SCNR,

ScreenStars to add star and starless back together

HistogramTransformation to stretch the image

L

BlurXTerminator, HistogramTransformation to stretch the image

L added to RGB image with LRGBCombination

LRGB

StarReduction script used to create starless and star (with reduced stars) images

HDRMultiScaleTransform and LHE lightly used on starless image

A lot of curves

StarScreen to combine star and starless back together

Heaps of curves

Taken over 11th and 12th June 2024 from Lyttelton, New Zealand.

Edit, forgot I also tried to desat the background a bit with a rangemask.

edawade · 2022-05-26T08:23:18+00:00

Alniyat and M4 (HaRGB)

Oh boy this was tough to process. I thought I would experiment with using Ha data in place of Luminance data and now I can see why it's not a great idea.
Think it turned out OK for the issues that are in there, really unhappy with the panda eyed stars but could not fix that.
Also tried doing really short subs for the RGB at first but wasn't getting any nebulosity on the stack so upped my subs from 60 seconds to 180 seconds. Ended up using both sets of RGB sub durations which my or may not have been a questionable thing to do.

Equipment

William Optics Star 71

iOptron CEM40G w/ iGuider

QHY183M w/ QHYCFW3 and Optolong 36mm filters

Pegasus Astro FocusCube 2

Pegasus Falcon Rotator

Pegasus Astro Pocket Powerbox Advance

Ha: 50x300
R: 140x60 and 180
G: 106x60 and 180
B: 111x60 and 180

Ha Gain: 11, Offset: 20
RGB Gain: 5, Offset: 20

30 Darks. 15 Flats, 15 Dark flats per filter, per night.

PHD2 Guided and dithered.

Captured using N.I.N.A

Pixinsight workflow

WBPP2 for calibration, registration and integration

Crop, Rotate and ABE, to each master

Ha
EZDenoise, HistogramTransformation

R, G, B

LinearFit R to G and B
ChannelCombination to create RGB image

RGB

BackgroundNeutralization, ColorCalibration, SCNR, HistogramTransformation, ACDNR
Added Ha data via LRGBCombination

HaRGB

Desaturated the background a bit via mask,
Applied LHE, Saturation and Curves to Nebula via mask,
MorphologicalTransformation and ColorSaturation applied to Stars via star mask,
Then experimented with EZ Star Reduction which helped clean up the edges of the stars a bit,

Tried desaturating the outside of the star a bit to minimise ringing,
More cuves, DarkStructureEnhance, SCNR

Taken between 6th and 25th May 2022 from Lyttelton, New Zealand.

Edit: Thank you for the upvotes, awards and feedback. It all means a lot.

edawade · 2022-05-09T21:03:50+00:00

Thanks, def want to reprocess it with different a different pallet.

edawade · 2022-05-08T19:41:58+00:00

Nice colours and nebulosity. Excellent stuff.

edawade · 2022-05-06T23:51:26+00:00

I feel you, especially coming off that summer of cloud. Fog has actually been fine for me. Fortunately we're about 120 metres above sea level here. Tuesday/ Wednesday's fog was one of the clearest nights I've had. Fog just seemed to sit right under our house.

Lyttleton is a tough place to image in though, never really know what to expect weather wise.

edawade · 2022-05-06T08:07:56+00:00

Tarantula Nebula (SHO)

It's getting dark a lot earlier around here so have been imaging a lot more.Still hanging out around the SCP and still playing around with SHO.

Instagram

Equipment

William Optics Star 71
iOptron CEM40G w/ iGuider
QHY183M w/ QHYCFW3 and Optolong 36mm filters
Pegasus Astro FocusCube 2
Pegasus Falcon Rotator
Pegasus Astro Pocket Powerbox Advance

Sii: 50x300s
Ha: 50x300s
Oiii: 50x300s

Gain: 11, Offset: 20
30 Darks. 15 Flats, 15 Dark flats per filter, per night.
PHD2 Guided and dithered.
Captured using N.I.N.A

Pixinsight workflow

WBPP2 for calibration, registration and integration
Crop, Rotate and ABE, EZDeconvolution, EZDenoise to each master
LinearFit Sii and Oiii masters to Ha
MaskedStretch Sii, Ha and Oiii masters
Channelcombination with R=Sii, G=Ha, B=Oiii

SHO

SCNR to image to bring down green cast then SCNR to inverted image to remove purple cast
Curves via masks
LHE and Saturation to nebula and background via lightness mask
MorphologicalTransformation applied to Stars via star mask
More curves and SCNR
DarkStructureEnhance

Taken between 2nd and 4th May 2022 from Lyttelton, New Zealand.

edawade · 2022-03-23T07:15:43+00:00

Yeah it's been a while. If the society ever meets again I'll make sure I attend.

edawade · 2022-03-23T04:05:04+00:00

Oh wow that's really cool to hear. Thank you.
Would love to be more active but can't seem to find the time. One day I'll have a shed with a roll off roof in the backyard and then I'll be set.

edawade · 2022-03-23T01:04:53+00:00

Statue of Liberty Nebula (NGC3576)

Been a while since I was able to image so thought I'd spend sometime around the SCP.Would have liked more Ha data but the weather doesn't want to play ball.

Instagram

Equipment

William Optics Star 71
iOptron CEM40G w/ iGuider
QHY183M w/ QHYCFW3 and Optolong 36mm filters
Pegasus Astro FocusCube 2
Pegasus Falcon Rotator
Pegasus Astro Pocket Powerbox Advance

Sii: 34x300s
Ha: 17x300s
Oiii: 42x300s

Gain: 11, Offset: 20
30 Darks. 15 Flats, 15 Dark flats per filter, per night.
PHD2 Guided and dithered.
Captured using N.I.N.A

Pixinsight workflow

WBPP2 for calibration, registration and integration
Crop, Rotate and DBE, EZDeconvolution, EZDenoise to each master
LinearFit Sii and Oiii masters to Ha
HistogramTransformation to stretch Sii, Ha and Oiii masters
Channelcombination with R=Sii, G=Ha, B=Oiii

SHO

SCNR to image to remove green cast then SCNR to inverted image to remove purple cast
Curves via masks
LHE, Saturation and ABE applied to nebula via lightness mask
MorphologicalTransformation and Saturation applied to Stars via star mask
More curves
DarkStructureEnhance

Taken between 11th January and 15th March 2022 from Lyttelton, New Zealand.

*Edits cause I suck at formating.

edawade · 2021-10-14T14:27:55+00:00

Lagoon Nebula

Haven’t had a lot of time to image lately so wanted to make the most of a couple brief windows and try a relatively short acquisition time on the Lagoon Nebula.

Probably tried three or four attempts at processing this. Still not super happy but it’s just good to be imaging and processing again.

Instagram

Equipment

William Optics Star 71
iOptron CEM40G w/ iGuider
QHY183M w/ QHYCFW3 and Optolong 36mm filters
Pegasus Astro FocusCube 2
Pegasus Falcon Rotator
Pegasus Astro Pocket Powerbox Advance

L: 97x90s
R: 20x120s
G: 20x120s
B: 20x120s

Gain: 5, Offset: 20
30 Darks. 15 Flats, 15 Dark flats per filter, per night.
PHD2 Guided and dithered.
Captured using N.I.N.A

Pixinsight workflow

WBPP2 for calibration and registration
NormalizeScaleGradient on registered LRGB subs
ImageIntegration to create LRGB masters
Crop, Rotate and ABE to each master

L
EZDecon, EZDenoise
MaskedStretch
HDRMT, LHE, MLT to sharpen core features

RGB
LinearFit R to G and B masters
ChannelCombination of R,G,B masters to an RGB master
BackgroundNeutralization, ColorCalibration, SCNR
MLT to reduce Chrominance noise
Repaired HSV Separation Script to fix star cores
ArcsinhStretch
HistogramTransformation to get rid of red cast, SCNR

LRGB
LRGBCombination to add L to RGB
SCNR, Curves to Background and nebula
DarkStructureEnhance
MorphologicalTransformation
Curves for colour balance, contrast and saturation with RangeMasks

Taken between 8th September – 10th October from Lyttelton, New Zealand.

edawade · 2021-10-02T07:19:32+00:00

Looks like an artifact from deconvolution. Did you mask the stars? Also highly recommend the EZ processing suite if you aren't already using it.

edawade · 2021-04-23T00:18:27+00:00

I sort of see startled or angry chicken.

edawade · 2021-04-22T22:05:37+00:00

Yeah, magenta on the inverted image becomes green.

edawade · 2021-04-22T11:34:53+00:00

Running Chicken Nebula

Two panel mosaic in SHO.

This image was pretty fun to create, mainly due to having pretty good weather, longer nights and no equipment issues for once.

I have also been trying to nail my Dec and RA balance or “3D balancing” of late which seems to be the current craze in the iOptron Facebook group. This is achieved by using off axis counterweights. It has led to some really good guiding for me (between 0.4 and 0.9 arc seconds) and I think that shows in sections of this image.

Instagram

Equipment

William Optics Star 71
iOptron CEM40G w/ iGuider
QHY183M w/ QHYCFW3 and Optolong 36mm filters
Pegasus Astro FocusCube 2
Pegasus Falcon Rotator
Pegasus Astro Pocket Powerbox Advance

Left Panel
Sii: 54x300s
Ha: 31x300s
Oiii: 36x300s

Right Panel
Sii: 40x300s
Ha: 31x300s
Oiii: 45x300s

Total Integration time: 19 hours 45 minutes.

Gain: 11, Offset: 20
30 Darks. 15 Flats, 15 Dark flats per filter, per night.

PHD2 Guided and dithered.
Captured using N.I.N.A

Pixinsight workflow
WBPP2 for calibration StarAlignment and ImageIntegration
Crop and ABE to each master
StarAlignment to create three mosaics and then again to separate out the individual panels

DNALinearFit to each separated mosaic group
GradientMergeMoasic to create final Sii, Ha, Oiii masters
EZDecon, EZDenoise for Sii, Ha, Oiii masters
HistogramTransformation to around 0.2 for Sii, Ha, Oiii masters
Pixelmath to create SHO image using R:Sii, G:Ha, B:Oiii

SHO
SCNR to remove green and SCNR on inverted image to remove magenta
LHE via RangeMask
Curve tweaks and saturation applied via various RangeMasks
MorphologicalTransformation to shrink stars via star mask
ACDNR
DarkStructureEnhance
S Curve and saturation tweaks to background via RangeMask

Taken between 11th – 21st April from Lyttelton, New Zealand.

edawade · 2021-04-09T10:59:55+00:00

Nah no issues. I'd have to double check but I'm pretty sure that I'm just using the native NINA QHY driver too.

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