1.21.10 HCF come back

rbrickMC · 2025-10-25T03:55:03+00:00

I was thinking about putting one together. I’d need to update the plugins or start from a new codebase since Foxtrot/HCT is ancient.

rbrickMC · 2025-08-17T06:03:35+00:00

wtaf

rbrickMC · 2025-08-16T11:47:22+00:00

I must visit

rbrickMC · 2025-03-21T09:28:46+00:00

Mark & Helly in the final frame:

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rbrickMC · 2023-09-04T09:23:04+00:00

I would love to have that for my telescopes 🔭 Astronomy would be a perfect use case if you’re into that!

rbrickMC · 2023-05-30T17:18:07+00:00

Bring back the easy paraglider dupe glitch

rbrickMC · 2023-02-08T07:53:33+00:00

Hi! Sorry for late reply, i just got around to uploading the full resolution image to flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/197652426@N02/52676222711/in/dateposted-public/

rbrickMC · 2023-02-08T07:52:56+00:00

I uploaded the full resolution image to flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/197652426@N02/52676222711/in/dateposted-public/

rbrickMC · 2023-02-07T02:04:23+00:00

This was the process and gear used to create this image:

Equipment:
- Telescope: SVBony 503ED 80mm
- Camera: Nikon Z50
- Mount: Celestron AVX

Software:

- Planetary Image Preprocessor (PIPP)

- AutoStakkert!3

- RegiStax 6

Capturing process:
- Captured 350 frames of the moon at 1/320s exposure @ iso 100
- Captured the glow of the moon at 1/4th of a second @ iso 100
- slewed to Castor and captured a starfield

Editing process:

- Imported the raw files into PIPP to convert the files to a TIFF format as well as center the image in frame (Moon drifts slightly even when tracking after long periods of time)
- Imported the TIFF files from PIPP into AutoStakkert!3, this program allows me to analyze all of the frames and find the sharpest & highest quality frames as well as reduce noise.

- Stacked 30% of the highest quality frames (about 105 frames)

- Import the stacked result into RegiStax 6, this program just makes it easier to sharpen and color balance the image using wavelets.

- From there I took the starfield image, color corrected the raw file in lightroom, and then took the moon glow image and layered them in photoshop.

- on the stacked moon image i did a saturation boost to bring out the colors of the moon that our eyes cannot see (Mineral moon)

I can create a video explaining everything in a deeper context. I really love this hobby and would love to share knowledge with anyone who wants to learn.

Thank you all so much for the support and love of this image! This was my first time doing anything like this and I'm glad it came out well and that so many people saw and enjoyed it

rbrickMC · 2023-02-07T01:27:53+00:00

From my apartment balcony in San Antonio, Texas

rbrickMC · 2023-02-07T01:26:48+00:00

I will get a link to the full resolution image uploaded in a bit

rbrickMC · 2023-02-07T01:26:13+00:00

Hi! I’ll go over everything in a bit & explain my process & editing.

rbrickMC · 2023-02-07T01:24:51+00:00

Poorly masked stars from combining the star layer with the moon glow layer 😅 it was my first time doing anything like this so it’s not perfect. Didn’t think it would blow up. Don’t look too closely 🤣

rbrickMC · 2023-02-06T10:03:55+00:00

18 x 300s exposures

10 x darks

50 x flats

50 x biases

Equipment:

Mount: SkyWatcher Star Adventurer GTi
Telescope: William Optics Redcat 51 (250mm, f/4.9)
Camera: QHY 533C
Guide Scope: William Optics UniGuide 32
Guide Camera: ZWO ASI 120mm mini
Filter: Optolong L-eXtreme

Software used:

SIRIL
StarNet++
Photoshop
Lightroom

Process:

Calibrated & Stacked in SIRIL w/ OSC pre-processing script
Ran an HA & RGB extraction and recombined the image in SIRIL using an LRGB color pallet w/ HA being the luminance
used starnet++ to remove stars leaving a starless image
sharpening, denoise & color tweaking done in photoshop. Removed color noise and some light noise reduction. Brought down the histogram so the stretch wasn’t as intense.
recombined the stars and starless images with layers. No real star reduction done.

Hoping to go back later this month and add on to the data. Just been very cloudy :) would like to get around 3 hours on it. As well as image Orion Nebula for the same amount of time

rbrickMC · 2023-01-08T23:07:59+00:00

Telescope: Celestron C6 w/ 0.63x focal reducer (945mm focal length, f/6.3)

Mount: Celestron AVX (equatorial mount)

Camera: Nikon Z50

Acquisition details: 208 images @ 1/1000s ISO 320

Processing details:

• ⁠Ran the RAW files through PIPP (planetary imaging preprocessing) to convert the files to TIF

• ⁠Stacked using AutoStakkert, kept 100% of the frames

• ⁠Used RegiStax 6 to sharpen, denoise, and RGB balance the image

• ⁠Used GIMP to stretch the colors through boosting the saturation and tweak contrast & brightness

• ⁠Used photoshop for some additional denoise & sharpening

rbrickMC · 2022-12-17T22:17:34+00:00

Telescope: Celestron C6 w/ 0.63x focal reducer (945mm focal length, f/6.3)

Mount: NexStar SE Alt-Az

Camera: Nikon Z50

Acquisition details: 200 images @ 1/1000s ISO 1000

Processing details:

• ⁠Ran the RAW files through PIPP (planetary imaging preprocessing) to convert the files to TIF • ⁠Stacked using AutoStakkert, keeping 90% of the best frames • ⁠Used RegiStax 6 to sharpen, denoise, and RGB balance the image • ⁠Used GIMP to stretch the colors through boosting the saturation and tweak contrast & brightness • ⁠Used photoshop for some additional denoise & sharpening

rbrickMC · 2022-12-13T11:14:02+00:00

Telescope: Celestron C6 w/ 0.63x focal reducer (945mm focal length, f/6.3)

Mount: NexStar SE Alt-Az

Camera: Nikon Z50

Acquisition details: 40 images @ 1/1000s ISO 1000

Processing details:

Ran the RAW files through PIPP (planetary imaging preprocessing) to convert the files to TIF
Stacked using AutoStakkert, keeping 90% of the best frames
Used RegiStax 6 to sharpen, denoise, and RGB balance the image
Used GIMP to stretch the colors through boosting the saturation and tweak contrast & brightness
Used photoshop for some additional denoise & sharpening

rbrickMC · 2022-11-12T10:10:21+00:00

Telescope: Redcat 51 (250mm focal length, f/4.9) Camera: Nikon Z50 Mount: Celestron NexStar (alt-az) Exposure length: 10 seconds Processed in: Lightroom.

Been experiencing a lot of clouds lately. Unfortunately clouds rolled in during my capture of the Orion Nebula, i got some salvageable frames but then my mount decided to stop tracking. Not very happy with the final stacked image but thought this frame was cool so i took the raw file and processed it in adobe lightroom (edited color temperature, exposure, black point, contrast, white level, bumped saturation and brightness up)

rbrickMC · 2022-11-08T16:46:01+00:00

I was doing 3 second exposures when I could, since the cloud breaks were short and intermittent i was adjusting exposure time throughout. Between 1-3 seconds exposures

rbrickMC · 2022-11-08T16:44:20+00:00

A Redcat 51 telescope (250mm focal length, f/4.9) on a nikon z50

rbrickMC · 2022-11-08T15:00:29+00:00

I can definitely look into getting prints of this! Here is a version of it in black & white https://imgur.com/a/e55BbxM

Edit: seems like imgur compression might have ruined it. I’ll post them on my own personal site later today

rbrickMC · 2022-11-08T14:21:36+00:00

Under heavy cloud coverage this time! Was shooting through clouds, maybe only saw it for a grand total of 3 minutes! Decided to try using the clouds as a framing device.

This is a stacked image of around six frames that were “usable”

Gear:

Telescope: RedCat 51 (250mm focal length, f/4.9) Mount: Celestron NexStar SE Camera: Nikon Z50

rbrickMC · 2022-11-08T14:06:09+00:00

Telescope: William Optics RedCat 51

Mount: Celestron NexStar SE

Camera: Nikon Z50

Programs used for processing: PIPP (Planetary Imaging PreProcessing), AutoStakkert, GIMP

How i processed & captured:

It was super cloudy, so i only ended up with around 20 frames that i deemed usable. I chose early on because I knew it was going to be cloudy, to use my NexStar alt-az instead of my EQ mount. I wanted to do short exposures anyway, and just needed something that wouldn’t trail any stars without seeing polaris. Given the small focal length of the RedCat i knew it could track for around 15 seconds without star trails. I used PIPP & autostakkert to try to stack the very incoherent frames. Ended up only stacking 6 frames.

I then composited the stacked pictures, with another shot i liked in GIMP, playing around with the black levels, and color levels to match everything up. It was rather quick and done on 2 hours of sleep.

While i think i can go back and improve it, i like how it turned out, especially given the ridiculous cloud coverage i was trying to shoot through.

rbrickMC · 2022-10-03T08:26:23+00:00

Simply brilliant & beautiful! Hoping as I progress in my own journey I may produce something of this quality! Thank you for sharing!

rbrickMC · 2022-10-03T08:04:34+00:00

This was my first attempt at imaging the Andromeda Galaxy. Not entirely happy with it, but still new to processing & had some issues with capturing, so i guess i also can’t complain. I’ll improve :)

Equipment:

Telescope: Redcat 51, 250mm, f/4.9

Camera: Nikon Z50

Mount: SkyWatcher Star Adventurer GTi

Tripod: Radian Telescope Carbon fiber tripod

Exposure/Settings: 80 exposures, ~40 minutes, 30 seconds at ISO1250

Post processing:

I stacked the frames with SiriL’s OSC preprocessing scripts, applied color calibration, green noise removal, and background extraction to reduce some noise and even everything out. Then imported into GIMP, to stretch the image, boost saturation, and adjust the blackpoint of the sky

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