http://gallery.tungstentech.com/main.php?g2_itemId=413 en-us Gallery 2 RSS Module, version 1.1.7 Thu, 09 Sep 2010 08:39:52 -0500 120 http://gallery.tungstentech.com/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=416 http://gallery.tungstentech.com/main.php?g2_itemId=413 http://gallery.tungstentech.com/main.php?g2_itemId=1244 http://gallery.tungstentech.com/main.php?g2_itemId=1244
The Object
M51, Whirlpool Galaxy. An interacting pair of galaxies with tidal waves of stars visible to the top, right and left. Plenty of other galaxies are visible as well.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whirlpool_Galaxy]Information at Wikipedia.[/url]

The Process

• 39 15 Minute lights (9h45m) captured 3/20, 3/21/09 with Nebulosity 2
• Bad columns and pixels fixed with my fixfits utility
• Stacked with 100 flats, 100 dark flats, and 100 bias frames in DeepSkyStacker.
• Processed in PixInsight Core with DBE, histogram transformations, ACDNR, HDRWaveletTransformation, Masked curve for saturation,
  
  ICCProfileTransformation.
• Published with PaintShopPro X2
• The monitor used during processing was calibrated using Spyder3Elite. The image was processed and published using the sRGB color profile for
  
  the widest possible compatibility. FireFox 3 has color management capabilities. Use Google to find out how to enable these.

The Hardware

• William Optic Megrez 110ED with TRF-2008 flattener
• QHY8 with IDAS-LPS filter
• EQ6/Atlas EQ/G controlled by EQMOD
• Guided with a DSI-Pro
• Focused with a Bahtinov mask (drawn by myself in InkScape)
• Flats created with an EL panel. Two sets of 50, rotated 90 degrees
• Kept dew free with Dew-Buster

Image of the setup

Click the 'Full size' icon on top of the image for the original image. Popup blockers must be disabled for this site.

There may be other versions of this image next to this one.]]> Gallery Administrator photo Sun, 22 Mar 2009 22:14:34 -0500 http://gallery.tungstentech.com/main.php?g2_itemId=1242 http://gallery.tungstentech.com/main.php?g2_itemId=1242
The Object
M51, Whirlpool Galaxy. An interacting pair of galaxies with tidal waves of stars visible to the top, right and left. Plenty of other galaxies are

visible as well.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whirlpool_Galaxy]Information at Wikipedia.[/url]

The Process

• 39 15 Minute lights (9h45m) captured 3/20, 3/21/09 with Nebulosity 2
• stacked with 100 flats, 100 dark flats, and 100 bias frames in DeepSkyStacker.
• Processed in PixInsight Core with DBE, histogram transformations, ACDNR, HDRWaveletTransformation, Masked curve for saturation,
  
  ICCProfileTransformation.
• Published with PaintShopPro X2
• The monitor used during processing was calibrated using Spyder3Elite. The image was processed and published using the sRGB color profile for
  
  the widest possible compatibility. FireFox 3 has color management capabilities. Use Google to find out how to enable these.

The Hardware

• William Optic Megrez 110ED with TRF-2008 flattener
• QHY8 with IDAS-LPS filter
• EQ6/Atlas EQ/G controlled by EQMOD
• Guided with a DSI-Pro
• Focused with a Bahtinov mask (drawn by myself in InkScape)
• Flats created with an EL panel. Two sets of 50, rotated 90 degrees
• Kept dew free with Dew-Buster

Image of the setup

Click the 'Full size' icon on top of the image for the original image. Popup blockers must be disabled for this site.

There may be other versions of this image next to this one.]]> Gallery Administrator photo Sun, 22 Mar 2009 21:21:29 -0500 http://gallery.tungstentech.com/main.php?g2_itemId=1236 http://gallery.tungstentech.com/main.php?g2_itemId=1236
See the previous version for details on acquisition.

Process for labeling:
- create 16b FITS file (all processing is otherwise done in 32b)
- load file in Elbrus
- plate solve
- add WCS data
- load file in PixInsight
- convert to monochrome (could have done this before solving)
- load image as background in Cartes du Ciel 3.0.1.6
- enable PGC catalog
- copy galaxy names to PaintShopPro where a 16b TIFF is loaded and exported to jpg]]> Gallery Administrator photo Thu, 12 Mar 2009 22:43:44 -0500 http://gallery.tungstentech.com/main.php?g2_itemId=1233 http://gallery.tungstentech.com/main.php?g2_itemId=1233
The Object
Galaxies Messier 105, Messier 96, Messier 95, NGC 3371, NGC 3373 and countless PGC galaxies.
Information at Wikipedia.

The Process

• 38 15 Minute lights (9h30m) captured 12/22/08 and 1/24/09 with Nebulosity 2
• Hot/cold pixels and bad columns fixed with my own software (fixfits)
• stacked with 100 flats and 100 bias and 100 dark flat rames in DeepSkyStacker.
• Processed in PixInsight Core with DBE, histogram transformations, ACDNR, ICCProfileTransformation.
• Published with PaintShopPro X2
• The monitor used during processing was calibrated using Spyder3Elite. The image was processed and published using the sRGB color profile for the widest possible compatibility. FireFox 3 has color management capabilities. Use Google to find out how to enable these.

The Hardware

• William Optic Megrez 110ED with TRF-2008 flattener
• QHY8 with IDAS-LPS filter
• EQ6/Atlas EQ/G controlled by EQMOD
• Guided with a DSI-Pro
• Focused with a Bahtinov mask (drawn by myself in InkScape)
• Kept dew free with Dew-Buster

Image of the setup

Click the 'Full size' icon on top of the image for the original image. Popup blockers must be disabled for this site.

The next image is labeled with galaxies.]]> Gallery Administrator photo Thu, 12 Mar 2009 22:40:30 -0500 http://gallery.tungstentech.com/main.php?g2_itemId=1230 http://gallery.tungstentech.com/main.php?g2_itemId=1230
The Object
Leo Triplet: Galaxies Messier 66, 65, NGC 3628 and others. On a properly calibrated monitor a very faint tidal tail can be seen to the left of NGC 3628 (the bar shaped galaxy on top). Despite the long integration time the tail is hard to make out. My optical system can't do much better than this.
Information at Wikipedia.

The Process

• 47 15 Minute lights (11h45m) captured 1/22, 2/13, 2/15 and 2/16/09 with Nebulosity 2
• stacked with 100 flats and 100 bias frames in DeepSkyStacker.
• Processed in PixInsight Core with DBE, histogram transformations, ACDNR, Masked curve for saturation, ICCProfileTransformation, HDRWaveletTransformation.
• Published with PaintShopPro X2
• The monitor used during processing was calibrated using Spyder3Elite. The image was processed and published using the sRGB color profile for the widest possible compatibility. FireFox 3 has color management capabilities. Use Google to find out how to enable these.

The Hardware

• William Optic Megrez 110ED with TRF-2008 flattener
• QHY8 with IDAS-LPS filter
• EQ6/Atlas EQ/G controlled by EQMOD
• Guided with a DSI-Pro
• Focused with a Bahtinov mask (drawn by myself in InkScape)
• Flats created with an EL panel. Two sets of 50, rotated 90 degrees
• Kept dew free with Dew-Buster

Image of the setup

Click the 'Full size' icon on top of the image for the original image. Popup blockers must be disabled for this site.

There may be other versions of this image next to this one.]]> Gallery Administrator photo Tue, 10 Mar 2009 09:07:42 -0500 http://gallery.tungstentech.com/main.php?g2_itemId=1227 http://gallery.tungstentech.com/main.php?g2_itemId=1227
About 60 1 minute subs stacked in DeepSkyStacker in 'Comet and stars' mode. Processed in PixInsight.]]> Gallery Administrator photo Tue, 10 Mar 2009 08:33:24 -0500 http://gallery.tungstentech.com/main.php?g2_itemId=1224 http://gallery.tungstentech.com/main.php?g2_itemId=1224
The Object
Galaxies Messier 106, NGC 4217, NGC 4346, NGC 4220, NGC 4248 and others.
Information at Wikipedia.

The Process

• 26 15 Minute lights captured 2/17/09 and 2/24/09 with Nebulosity 2
• stacked with 100 flats and 100 bias frames in DeepSkyStacker.
• Processed in PixInsight Core with DBE, histogram transformations, ACDNR, HDRWaveletTransformation.
• Published with PaintShopPro X2
• The monitor used during processing was calibrated using Spyder3Elite. The image was processed and published using the sRGB color profile for the widest possible compatibility. FireFox 3 has color management capabilities. Use Google to find out how to enable these.

The Hardware

• William Optic Megrez 110ED with TRF-2008 flattener
• QHY8 with IDAS-LPS filter
• EQ6/Atlas EQ/G controlled by EQMOD
• Guided with a DSI-Pro
• Focused with a Bahtinov mask (drawn by myself in InkScape)
• Kept dew free with Dew-Buster

Image of the setup

Click the 'Full size' icon on top of the image for the original image. Popup blockers must be disabled for this site.

There may be other versions of this image next to this one.]]> Gallery Administrator photo Thu, 26 Feb 2009 23:13:06 -0600 http://gallery.tungstentech.com/main.php?g2_itemId=1222 http://gallery.tungstentech.com/main.php?g2_itemId=1222
A crop of the center region of the previous image without PixInsight's HDRWaveletTransform applied. Note how the bright areas lack all detail.]]> Gallery Administrator photo Sat, 21 Feb 2009 22:32:14 -0600 http://gallery.tungstentech.com/main.php?g2_itemId=1219 http://gallery.tungstentech.com/main.php?g2_itemId=1219
The Object
Messier 78 (M78) and NGC 2071. Also visible in the top right corner is part of the loop of Orion (Barnard's loop or Sh 2-276). The diffuse nebulosity extending to the bottom right eventually reaches the famous Horsehead nebula. Information at Wikipedia.

The Process

• 19 15 Minute lights (7h 15m), captured over 3 nights with Nebulosity, stacked with 100 flats and 100 bias frames in DeepSkyStacker.
• Processed in PixInsight Core with Dynamic Background Extraction, nonlinear histogram transformations, small and large scale ACDNR, SCNR to remove green cast, HDRWaveletTransform.
• Published with PaintShopPro X2
• The monitor used during processing was calibrated using Spyder3Elite. The image was processed and published using the sRGB color profile for the widest possible compatibility. FireFox 3 has color management capabilities. Use Google to find out how to enable these.

The Hardware

• William Optic Megrez 110ED with TRF-2008 flattener
• QHY8 with IDAS-LPS filter
• EQ6/Atlas EQ/G controlled by EQMOD
• Guided with a DSI-Pro
• Focused with a Bahtinov mask (drawn by myself in InkScape)
• Kept dew free with Dew-Buster

Image of the setup

Click the 'Full size' icon on top of the image for the original image. Popup blockers must be disabled for this site.]]> Gallery Administrator photo Sat, 21 Feb 2009 22:24:01 -0600 http://gallery.tungstentech.com/main.php?g2_itemId=1213 http://gallery.tungstentech.com/main.php?g2_itemId=1213
Changes compared to the previous version:

- let DSS align the RGB channels after stacking
- used new flats but this probably didn't help at all. One set of exposures has a nasty distortion on it that's still visible as a vertical streak just left of center.
- did two DBE sessions. Still not happy with the lack of uniformity of the background. I think it's a little better than the previous one.
- after a single histogram non-linear stretch I applied 2 ACDNR processes. First small scale, then medium scale. This was based on a wavelet analysis of the noise sizes. After the ACDNR processes quite a bit of the black side of the histogram became available so that was remove along with a very minor non-linear stretch.
- Used a luminance mask for a slight saturation increase in the bright areas. Used a curved saturation adjustment to lift up the poorly saturated areas while leaving alone medium to highly saturated parts.

Benefits:
- more faint galaxy detail
- less prominent color around stars

Drawbacks:
- the image became a bit blotchy/pastel here and there. This is a new processing sequence for me, I'll have to get better at it.]]> Gallery Administrator photo Thu, 12 Feb 2009 21:50:07 -0600