Tuesday, August 29, 2023

Interesting Stacking Issue with Sulfer and Oxygen - Any Thoughts?

I collected 90 second frames of R, G, B and 300 second frames of Ha, OIII, and SII. I then stacked them using the default setting of WBPP in PixInsight as I always do. The R, G, B, and Ha came out looking really well, however, the SII and OIII to a lesser extent had a weird stripe from top to bottom. I did some experiments and the results are leaving me a bit confused.

Experiment:

I restacked the SII with no darks, flats, and bias and there was no stripe. I then stacked them with the darks and the stripe was back. Eureka - the darks are somehow the problem! To be sure I restacked them again with only the flats and there was no stripe.

The confusing part is the same darks were also used for the Ha. If the darks were the issue, the Ha should also be affected.

Results:

Figure 1 - SII stacked with darks, flats, and bias 


Figure 2 - SII stacked with no support frames


Figure 3 - SII stacked with flats only 


Figure 4 - SII stacked with darks only 


Figure 5 - OIII stacked with darks, flats, and bias 


Figure 6 - Ha stacked with darks, flats, and bias 



Anyone have any ideas?

Equipment:
Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro
Telescope: Astro-Tech AT115EDT 115mm Refractor Telescope
Focal Length: 805mm (644mm w/ FR)
f/7
Focal Reducer: 0.8x AstroTech Field Flatterner/Focal Reducer
Mount: Orion Sirius
Filter Wheel: ZWO
EFW 8 x 1.25"
Filter: Antlia Ha, OIII, SII; ZWO L, R, G, B
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope/ZWO 60mm Guidescope
Exposure: Ha 77 x 300, OIII 68 x 300, SII 71 x 300, R 78 x 90, G 48 x 90, B 49 x 90
Gain: 139
Sensor Temp: 0 C

Wednesday, August 23, 2023

LDN 1251 - A Dark Nebula in Cepheus

LDN 1251 is a dark nebula found in a faint glowing molecular cloud. Located approximately 1,000 light-years away (LY) in the constellation Cepheus the molecular cloud contains other dark nebulae as well as bright patches of nebulosity associated with newborn stars known as Herbig-Haro (HH) objects. In addition, two small galaxies stand out in this region - PGC 166755, located in the center left shows some structure and PGC 69472 located in the bottom center.

Capturing went pretty well as we had some clear weather last month although the green and blue channels seem to be more dull compared to the red channel - this was most likely due to the smoky skies that have been plaguing us all summer long. Processing was pretty smooth as well. The only thing that I don't like is the geometric shape of the bright yellow star HR8625 located in the bottom of the nebula. That shape is due to reflections on the ZWO ASI1600 camera sensor - it doesn't handle large stars well. The nebular color is what came through. For once I did very little color adjustment other than brightening with vibrance and saturation.






LDN 1251
Dates: 6-15-23, 7-19, 7-20, 7-21, 7-22, 7-23, 7-24
Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro
Telescope: Astro-Tech AT115EDT 115mm Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 805mm (644mm w/ FR)
f/7
Focal Reducer: 0.8x AstroTech Field Flatterner/Focal Reducer
Mount: Orion Sirius
Filter Wheel: ZWO
EFW 8 x 1.25"
Filter: Antlia Ha, ZWO L, R, G, B
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope/ZWO 60mm Guidescope
Exposure: L 199 x 120, R 87 x 90, G 92 x 90, B 90 x 90
Gain: 139
Offset 20
Sensor Temp: 0 C
Processing: NINA, PixInsight, Photoshop, BlurXTerminator, StarXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator.

https://www.instagram.com/astroquest1/
http://astroquest1.blogspot.com/
https://www.astrobin.com/users/kurtzepp/collections/
http://youtube.com/AstroQuest1

Friday, August 18, 2023

Dwarf II Images

Dwarf  Labs recently sent their portable Dwarf II Smart Telescope review. I have made four Youtube videos on setting up and using the Dwarf II as well as basic processing. The Dwarf system consists of the following:

Telescope Parameters:

- Aperture Diameter: 24mm
- Focal Length of the Telephoto: 100 mm
- F-number: 4.2 (Tele lens), 2.4 (Wide lens)
- Field of View: 3° (Tele lens), 50° (Wide lens)
- Digital Resolution: 8 Megapixel (Tele lens), 2 Megapixel (Wide lens)

Hardware Parameters:

- CPU: 4-Core Cortex-A7 1.5GHz
- NPU: 2 TOPS NPU
- Sensor: SONY IMX415 Starvis
- Motor: 0.001 °/s~30 °/s
- Visibility Angle: Pitch 240°, rotation 340°
- Battery: Replaceable, 5600mAh
- Mounting Screw Thread: 1/4″

Interactive Parameters

- Connectivity: WiFi & Bluetooth
- Compatible System: iOS & Android
- API: Available
- TF Card Capacity: 512 GB Max
- Waterproof: IP54
- Storage Format: JPG, PNG, RAW
- Operating Temperature: 14~113°F / -10~45°C

Also, the camera is capable of recording at 30 frames per second.

The following are images produced using the Dwarf II.


Sun
Date: 8-2-23
Camera:SONY IMX415 Starvis
Telescope: Dwarf II Telephoto
Focal Length: 100mm
f/4.2
Mount: Dwarf II
Filter: None
Frames: best 200 out of 2170
Exposure: 1/320s
Gain: 100
Sensor Temp: 15 C
Processing: Autostakkaert, PIPP, PixInsight, Photoshop, BlurXTerminator, StarXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator.


NGC7000 - North America Nebula   
Date: 7-30-23
Camera:SONY IMX415 Starvis
Telescope: Dwarf II Telephoto
Focal Length: 100mm
f/4.2
Mount: Dwarf II
Filter: None
Exposure: 735 x 10
Gain: 100
Sensor Temp: 15 C
Processing: PixInsight, Photoshop, BlurXTerminator, StarXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator.


M27 - Dumbbell Nebula
Date: 8-2-23
Camera:SONY IMX415 Starvis
Telescope: Dwarf II Telephoto
Focal Length: 100mm
f/4.2
Mount: Dwarf II
Filter: None
Exposure: 18 x 10
Gain: 100
Sensor Temp: 15 C
Processing: PixInsight, Photoshop, BlurXTerminator, StarXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator.

https://www.instagram.com/astroquest1/
http://astroquest1.blogspot.com/
https://www.astrobin.com/users/kurtzepp/collections/
http://youtube.com/AstroQuest1

Wednesday, August 9, 2023

Autostakkert Correction

On a recent Youtube video, Solar Imaging with the Dwarf II & Simple processing - PIPP, Autostakkert, & Photoshop (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F97iid78hIQ&t=638s), using Autostakkert I wanted to stack 200 frames but only stacked 2.

Figure 1 - Corrected image, 200 frame stack

Figure 2 - Original image, 2 frame stack


Figure 3 - Corrected & colorized image, 200 frame stack


Figure 4 - Original colorized image, 2 frame stack