nova iron
The night sky — not as you imagine it, but as it really is.
This is the remains of a star that exploded thousands of years ago, still glowing as it slowly expands into space.
Captured from the Wirral UK over several hours and carefully processed to reveal the faint detail of a stunning, unforgiving target.
soft folio
Magnificent! 
nova iron
Thank you, Still no calibration frames it’s all just light frames and PixInsight.
I tried flats the other night and… yeah, that went sideways fast.
With only two clear nights I wasn’t about to waste precious sky time.
Calibration will get mastered eventually one night, just not at the expense of photons 😄
clear mango
Thank you, Still no calibration frames it’s all just light frames and PixInsight...
you can create bias ones during the day, so no wasting time.
Darks the same, though depending on your camera you might not need them.
I don’t always take flats (yeah, I know, shame) but when I do them I just take photos of the sky during the day (usually before the sunset) so no colliding with the precious sky time.
Still, I really like the photo
nova iron
Thank you and tell me more ???
I thought I had to do them the same time, and with a white screen and so on ?
Im using the zwo 2600 mcpro cooled to -10 if that helps ?
clear mango
Im using the zwo 2600 mcpro cooled to -10 if that helps ?
I don’t think you need darks. Darks are needed for the cameras that suffer from the amp glow, creating them and reusing them doesn’t cost you anything except a some daytime though.
You need bias. I reuse mine as long as I don’t see any hot pixels. You technically need flats every time as they help to compensate dust, optical imperfections, vignetting, etc, but i think in the last 4 photos I published in the chat people wouldn’t guess which ones taken with my newts had flats and which one didn’t. Just make sure there is no dust on any element very close to your sensor, and if there is any, clean it as soon as you find it.
Also, keep in mind I’ve been taking photos for over a year and post-processing them for real for about 3 weeks so more experienced fellows might disagree with me:)
nova iron
I went all in on astrophotography gear and was fortunate that cost wasn’t a limiting factor. I skipped the traditional “learn on entry-level gear” phase and invested straight into capable equipment.
That means my setup is currently ahead of my experience and I’m fully aware of that. I’ve got a lot to learn, and I’m genuinely open to advice and constructive feedback from anyone willing to share it. If you take the time to help, it’ll always be received with thanks 🙂
clear mango
If you have any questions then ask away. From my experience post-processing was the difficult part.
WRT this photo I would probably make the nebulosity slightly brighter, as the middle part is a little too dark. The photo is sharp, I am not going to judge the colour palette as this is an individual thing. I like it.