# HorseHead Area



## griz (Jan 9, 2006)

Finally getting the hang of this. Lots more subs three times the number I usually shoot. Sure smooths things out. This is just a first pass on this one I'm still cranking out images on another target. I can operate from in the house now via WiFi. The only time I have to go to the rig is to change batteries or change the target. I have a battery eliminator on the way. This kind of imaging will suck down a battery quick. I ended up changing twice the other night in about 5 hours.










Ioptron has their tracker on sale 100 bucks off 299 right now.

Griz


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## griz (Jan 9, 2006)

*Swan*

This one blew me away when I first saw it appear in DSS. Getting close on this stuff. My pointing computer will be here in a few days hit Chicago yesterday. Then I'll be able to find stuff in minutes instead of hours and get 3 or 4 sets a night.










Griz


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## phanagriff (Dec 23, 2011)

Very nice shots!


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## griz (Jan 9, 2006)

*Thanks*

Thanks I'm super pleased with how they came out. A couple of tips from some AP forum members and I'm off to the races now on these. Just takes a lot of subimages. The more the better. Gets rid of the noise smooths the wispy like tendrils and increases the detail a bunch. The mount I put together is working perfectly. I finally adjusted the worm gear. It had some slop. I found a way to use feeler gauges instead of guessing got it right the first time. No slop now changing direction but its still very smooth turning the worm with your fingers. At some point I'm going to upgrade that part to the newer one piece precision worm block. It has adjustment screws and you don't have to preload the blocks while you are trying to tighten things down. One of those three handed jobs. The telescope pointing computer will be here in a couple of days. If my DIY encoder works I'll be a happy camper. If you are going to try narrow band filters you need to be able to go out night after night and point at the exact same place so you can stack them all up eventually and not loose edges from being out of line. Not so critical with the wide lenses but with the 400 not a lot of wiggle room. For a top of the line mount wedge and pier with encoders and pointing computer it will set you back about 1800 bucks. You can go cheaper but the frustration level will climb. If you are going to use wide lenses only and have a plastic bodied lightweight camera then any of the trackers will do but for long lenses you need precision.

Griz


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## MichaelW (Jun 16, 2010)

Those are great looking shots. You are getting the hang of it.


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## griz (Jan 9, 2006)

*Reprocessed with PixInsight*

Decided to treat myself to an early Christmas present for all my hard work getting the rig together  Since its so nasty outside and will be for a week I went ahead and picked up a copy of PixInsight. Its kinda like Photoshop for Astro Images. Very complete and a terror to learn. I've had the demo for 45 days and am just now getting an image through the calibration and stacking process. Its very picky doesn't allow you to be too lazy. Enforces good technique. I redid my calibration frames and calibrated and stacked those into master calibration files. Then brought in the M42 images and calibrated those, Debayered them, Registered and combined them. PixInsight will use 64 bit fits files if you want the best. I don't see its any better than 32 but but I've read when you start using the HDR stuff in PI you should use them. After I got all that done I saved it as a tiff and fired up Ps for a little tweaking. Levels Curves HLVG and WhiteCal. Won't be long till I'll be doing everything in PI. The image has more detail looks like and the colors are closer to what they are supposed to look like. Such a mis mash of nebula types in this shot. Reflection and hot hydrogen mixed with some brown dust. Reflection nebula are a blue with just a touch of green in them. The gas isn't being heated up enough to turn red. Hard color to get right. Anyways here is the latest evolution.










Rolling right along with this. Can't wait to get outside again and get some more data to finish up the Horse and Swan and use my pointing system.

Griz


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## chubri777 (Aug 11, 2005)

These are great Griz. I'm always amazed by astro-photography.
If you haven't seen it already, here's a link to Roger Clark's review of the 7D2 sensor. Looks like it's going to be a good one for deep sky photography.

http://www.clarkvision.com/reviews/evaluation-canon-7dii/


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## griz (Jan 9, 2006)

*Yea I saw that*

Yea I saw that makes me want one even more. Finally got to test out the telescope pointing computer and encoders. Everything is configured and working now. Next time we have some clear skies its off to the races.

Griz


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## Jerry-rigged (May 21, 2004)

Nice shots Griz!

M42 is a lot of fun. I think it is interesting that it always looks red in pictures, but from the eyepiece of my 10" dob, it looks greenish (on a very dark night).


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## griz (Jan 9, 2006)

*Its the eyes*

Your eyes are most sensitive to green so thats what you see in the millisecond it takes your brain for form an image. Same reason the bayer pattern on DLSR sensors has twice as many green pixels as red and blue. The actual colors are a product of the heat involved. Red is the hottest hydrogen the blue is reflected light off the colder gasses and browns oranges etc are dust. Sure wish this weather would clear up for a day or so. I'm glad we are getting the moisture though. Things are nice and green. Something I haven't seen the past few years. I've figured out a lot and some people on astrobin have given me a lot of pointers so I'm anxious to get back out there and put it all to use. I'm surprised its going so good. Its so much easier with the DLSR. I had 35K worth of equipment in my old observatory and was never able to get shots that look as good as the first ones out of this rig. And its under 2k. Will never wear out it will last a lot longer than I will thats a fact  As my legs continue to get worse and I'm more and more limited I don't have to stop taking pictures now. I just wish the trees in back weren't so big. They are on other property so I can't trim them. But I'd like to put a little slab out there and fabricate some kind of cover for the main mount pieces so I could leave them outside aligned and ready to go. There are some available that look pretty interesting. Or build a cradle that would go in the basket of my scooter to haul it. I have it set up so I can use the scooter battery to power everything if I need too. I was thinking star parties would be a good place to use that. Now I have one of those starter batteries for the car. Runs everything for days. I have a feeling when I need to use dew strips I'll need more battery.

Griz


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## stargazer (May 24, 2004)

These are really cool. Keep them coming.


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## DA REEL DADDY (Jun 7, 2005)

Awesome.


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