M63-Sunflower Galaxy

[dim phoenix]

not bad!

[crimson silo]

Thx!

[crimson silo]

Turns out blur exterminator is a thing

[ebon pollen]

You should stretch it way more that's what mine looks like at 30m exposure so you should have way more data

[crimson silo]

How fast is your scope? Mines f/5

[ebon pollen]

F4

[crimson silo]

your scope has higher data acquisition then mine, so it would make sense that your scope can make an image that looks like mine in a shorter time. Im also reprocessing this target to see if I can do a better job.

[ebon pollen]

I mean 1 fstop doesn't make a 2.5hr difference look the same

[crimson silo]

Yeah I know that but I thought you were exaggerating.

[ebon pollen]

No. on 3hr of data you should have tidal waves of the galaxy visible in your image

[crimson silo]

is that what the wispy stuff is on the edges?

[ebon pollen]

Yeah but a lot more than that

[crimson silo]

I probably had to strong of a mask. I am reprocessing it now.

[crimson silo]

I also prefer a darker background in my images in general.

[ebon pollen]

Heres 9hr i forgot what f stop

[ebon pollen]

Albeit in this image the tidal waves are a little under stretched

[crimson silo]

If I was processing that I would think the contrast is too low, how can you tell the tidal streams from the background noise? That looks like you used a mask and that's just where the mask ended.

[crimson silo]

Heres the starless version of my re-process so far.

[ebon pollen]

There is no noise

[ebon pollen]

Crank it up dont be shy

[crimson silo]

lmao crank WHAT

[ebon pollen]

The stretch slider

[crimson silo]

I used masked stretch, I dont even touch sliders

[ebon pollen]

Use the sliders

[crimson silo]

Sliders have been used in this image

[ebon pollen]

Ok now use the clipping silder

But not too much keep an eye on the clipped background %

Ideally you want it 0 but if you want to do a little more thats fine

[ebon pollen]

There you go

Now just click on the auto stretch cause i want to see how much data you have

[ebon pollen]

Alright now go back to this one and use generalized hyperbolic stretching to stretch your galaxy without over blowing the core

And once you see the image looks good then go and use inverse generalized hyperbolic stretch on your star mask

Should bring out some of those background galaxies

[crimson silo]

this was hyperbolic stretching on the maximum stretched setting

[ebon pollen]

Looking Better now for hyperbolic stretching you shouldn't go for the max instead you should aim for a balance between the dim stuff like the tidal waves and the bright stuff the core and repeat until it looks good

[crimson silo]

had a mask on

[ebon pollen]

What is the mask for

[crimson silo]

protecting the galaxy while I clip the background

[ebon pollen]

Ahh

Generalized hyperbolic stretching doesnt clip the background or the galaxy

[crimson silo]

thats where I am at

[ebon pollen]

More

[crimson silo]

but isnt that gonna blow out the background? am I missing something? trying to get rid of the glowing background no?

[ebon pollen]

That would require you to go to the stretching settings and clip the background but this step is only for stretching the dim stuff on your target

[crimson silo]

more

[ebon pollen]

Ok that might of been a little too much

Did you click apply

Or are just moving the slider further up

[crimson silo]

better?

[crimson silo]

I am saving it every time

[ebon pollen]

Oh ok

[ebon pollen]

A little bit less

[ebon pollen]

Honestly this looks perfect

[crimson silo]

Gotcha, that was with the mask preventing the core from being murdered

[crimson silo]

My starmask hasnt been stretched

[ebon pollen]

Oooo I should start using a mask then

[crimson silo]

I use masks all the time

[ebon pollen]

Yeah that needs to be stretched

[ebon pollen]

I forgot to put an "I" in that sentence

[crimson silo]

OHH you dont use masks, yeah they are seriously good. Especially colour masks because you can selectively increase the saturation on the nebulas without making the background rainbow city

[ebon pollen]

What camera do you have

[crimson silo]

I use an ZWO ASI 662MC

[ebon pollen]

Hows the starmask coming

[crimson silo]

I started over, it happens a lot

[ebon pollen]

Why tho this looked good

[crimson silo]

Its sort of like when you think your in focus but then you think could there be better focus???

yk?

[ebon pollen]

Yeah

[ebon pollen]

But like in terms of detail its way better than mine

[ebon pollen]

What scope

And mount

[crimson silo]

My scope is the orion spaceprobe 130st and the mount is an old skywatcher HEQ5 synscan. I think thats what its called.

The scope and camera is a pretty good pair though, 0.9 pixels/arcsecond

[ebon pollen]

Very nice

[crimson silo]

I also dither and use drizzling

[ebon pollen]

But the heq5 is a little bit overkill for that 5 inch

[crimson silo]

I know I am upgrading to an 8inch imaging newtonian in a couple of days

[ebon pollen]

Ah how many times drizzle

[crimson silo]

x2

[ebon pollen]

Oooo very very nice

[crimson silo]

found a used one for 450 bucks CAD canadian dollars

[crimson silo]

all that matters is the mirror, if its good I can do magical things with it

[ebon pollen]

Yeah maybe do a restack cause drizzling does hurt your snr

[ebon pollen]

What brand

[crimson silo]

Its custom

[ebon pollen]

What brand mirror

[crimson silo]

I have no idea

[crimson silo]

one sec

[crimson silo]

"Custom Built Agenda/GSO"

its f/4 and 8inch aperture

[ebon pollen]

Damnnn

All that for 400 bucks

[crimson silo]

literal steal

[crimson silo]

the guys on vacation rn though so I have to wait till he gets back

[crimson silo]

mirror could be sketch though

[ebon pollen]

Nah this story sounds sketchy

[crimson silo]

I just dont want to buy a mirror that needs to be aluminized

[ebon pollen]

Silver is a better option

Gold is good for ir

Silver is good for ir visible and uv

[crimson silo]

I heard silver is better, but they dont use it a lot anymore because it tarnishes overtime. Aluminum has less reflectivity but it lasts much longer. Im pretty sure.

[ebon pollen]

Aluminum is good for a little bit of ir and mostly visible

[ebon pollen]

Yeah but nothing a simple coating on top of silver right after applying the silver to fix the issue

[crimson silo]

Yeah I think that was the standard practice, but I really dont have a good understanding as to why most scopes made the switch, maybe its cheaper.

[ebon pollen]

Its easier to coat with aluminum aperently

[crimson silo]

Ive seen it done, its really interesting. You need a big machine that creates a vacuum. Thats why I dont want a messed up mirror that needs it done because I dont have that machine nor do I know where to send it or how much it would cost.

[crimson silo]

I think thats better, stretched a bit more so it shows off my integration time.

[ebon pollen]

Looks better than your first one