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Posts Made By: Charles Hakes

September 6, 2008 02:16 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

NGC 7331 last night

Posted By Charles Hakes
My problem is I am not sure what I did with the mount, except to say I "fiddled" with it. Anyway, I didn't see that periodic "glitch" at all last night. And the dog didn't get skunked either - all around a much better imaging experience.

These are still 3 minute LRGB subs, a total of 45:15:15:15. With this region I don't think I could go much over 3 minutes without bleeding stars, and it looks like I got one anyway. (I had thought it was an elliptical core.)

Processing a bit different too. This time I stretch/processed the L and made (what I thought) a nice looking TIFF and used that instead of the FIT when getting the L channel in combining the color image via Astroart. I could probably do it a different way, but I liked the result. This is also my first go with playing with Carboni actions in Photoshop. Not sure if it is as much that, or if this target just seemed easy to process compared to my previous galaxy cluster, but I sure spent less time getting something I liked. I will have to go back and try this again and also re-process a bunch of previous data now, but since the sky is clear this week I might as well take more pictures while I can.

Thanks for looking. Comments and critiques always welcome.

Charlie


September 8, 2008 04:25 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Quintet Lum

Posted By Charles Hakes
This is 90 minutes L in 3 minute chunks. I will call this round 1, since I would like to add to it and get some color one of these nights. But I don't know if I can get it in the next few days, and then the moon will be big. Maybe that will be the excuse to re-process some other file debris.

Charlie


September 22, 2008 03:24 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Eagle mix

Posted By Charles Hakes
I started something like this on M16 last year, but too many things got in the way to finish, so this is another "start again" phase. Since the full moon was coming up, I swapped filter wheels to the narrow band set, but that was just in time for the clouds. And now that it is getting dark in the evening, I should go back and get more galaxies and finish those, but... I would be on OIII tonight, but the lightning made that rather challenging. That and the clouds.

This is 10x3 minutes of Ha in the blue channel, and 6x30 seconds of IR in the red channel and a green from a mix of the two, via Carboni Actions. I have not done any of these mixes before this one, so this is all new experimenting for me. (From recent discussions on this forum, I wanted to make sure Ha couldn't be confused with any of the various shades of "red".) I guess one goal is to get something that has lots more stars and protostars than you might normally see. And eventually get a Hubble palette available for mixing and playing. There are not nearly as many stars showing through as I thought there would be, but then again I only got 3 minutes there, and didn't get a chance for the clear filter, so that will give me more to play with. Thanks for looking.

Charlie


September 27, 2008 07:48 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

More M16 data

Posted By Charles Hakes
I finally have a "full set" of colors to play with on M16 - IR, SII, Ha and OIII. I still need more of each, and so far I have not taken any Luminance data, but now I can mix and match to see which direction I should try to head with the processing. This is 57, 30, and 60 minutes each in 3 minute subs. So I made a first cut at loading into Astroart and seeing what the "auto-range" spits out. I stretched the "log" button as far as it would go, but no other processing here.

Obviously (?) some mixes are more pleasing than others, so your input would be most welcome. This first one is the Hubble Palette of SI,Ha,OIII. (I will have to try and get rid of the pink halos on the next iteration.)

clear skies,
Charlie


October 15, 2008 04:11 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Round 2 - Alignment help?

Posted By Charles Hakes
I don't know if any of you refractor types have this problem, and I don't seem to notice this with "regular" RGB filters, but apparently there is a different effective focal length with the various different narrow band filters in this image (and others I notice in retrospect). So... my question is how to fix it?

My typical processing has me acquire, reduce, and align in CCDSoft, and I have been combining using Sigma Beta Combine. But Sigma Beta has no aligning or scaling function. I'll bet programs exist that will both scale and align, but I wanted to ask what process those of you who have ever faced this are using. I guess something that works on a folder at a time?

Thanks for any help.

Charlie


October 20, 2008 12:38 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

One more time M16

Posted By Charles Hakes
I got a bit better alignment, but now I think my problem was mostly the SII data just being not as good. (Combination of focus, autoguiding or whatever) I might be able to go back and select fewer of the three minute subframes, or just re-do/add to SII if it isn't too low in the sky. I think most of the noise is from SII anyway. I still think there is a tiny scaling difference from night to night, but that might just be my perception.

(57:60:111min RGB - no "L" in this version) I decreased the Ha contribution ratio slightly and like the colors better in the middle, but think the outside got a bit purple. (any monitor differences?) Comments, criticisms and suggestions most welcome. Thanks for looking.

Charlie


November 1, 2008 10:10 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

And again... M33

Posted By Charles Hakes
This one is really up close and personal. So add another ~24 images in a mozaic and the whole thing might fit. grin And then it would still take a bit of imagination/wishful thinking to get to that Tony Hallas version.

A couple of students using the observatory last month got this one - but it was actually a miss. They were intending to get NGC604, the large emission cloud on the edge, but that one is outside the field of view. Easy to do if you just center the bright thing, which is what you usually want. I think the total exposure was LRGB 38:28:34:30 and I am not convinced that the flat was the best. I stretched and played with their tiff for this version. There is some more L data available, but it really just needs more time and better flats.

Thanks for looking. And please let me know if you have any suggestions.

Charlie




November 15, 2008 09:17 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

racetrack? read noise?

Posted By Charles Hakes
I was hoping someone could tell me about the swooshes. These were short (3sec) exposures as I was playing around with image scaling. Obviously very stretched here. Camera temperature was -40C. (almost as cold as my feet felt). Looks like it must be something to do with read noise, (?) but I don't recall this discussed. Thoughts?

Thanks,
Charlie

November 17, 2008 09:57 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Last glimpse of (wild) ducks.

Posted By Charles Hakes
I have been trying different scaling options, so removed the "standard" 6.3 focal reducer for this one. I wanted an open cluster to verify the scale with different filters, and M11 is one of my favorite visual objects. (Didn't realize it was already so low!) RGB totals here are 9, 9, and 11 minutes all in 1 minute subs, (trying to not saturate anywhere). This puts the pixel scale factor at ~.71".

I tried cleaning up the noise, but on my first cut lost many of the really dim stars, so this version is less processed than it could be. So what do you think - should I smooth and sharpen more? I also have some L data that could be added, but my experience is that would wash out the colors.

Charlie

November 22, 2008 04:00 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

M37

Posted By Charles Hakes
More scaling tests with the SCT. This one is back with the 6.3 focal reducer, but in a different location. Linking with TheSky says a scale factor of 1.05"/pixel for all colors. However, it looks like there is a fraction of a pixel difference across the field between the red and the blue. I got this by checking the "distances" on the red and blue images. That is just enough to show some "rainbow" stars. Mostly near the edge of the field. (Note that blue is always on the outside.)

So... looks like I will need to jiggle the processing workflow. And my CCDStack free sample is expiring... (not used here). This one was stacked in Sigma Beta and combined in AstroArt. A little sharpening and Carboni Actions in Photoshop for the end. There is a "funny" on the edge, but this used a "known wrong" flat, so I am not too worried about it.

I will see if I can re-process and get anything better. In the mean time, I got a couple of other open clusters that I will have to post too.

Thanks for looking and comments always welcome.

Charlie



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