Narrow Band Imaging

Discussion in 'Astronomy, Exobiology, & Cosmology' started by Xelasnave.1947, Aug 25, 2018.

  1. Seattle Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    8,849
    Is that telescope permanently mounted in that location?
     
  2. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  3. Xelasnave.1947 Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    8,502

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

    I have two mounts.

    The larger one, an EQ6, stays semi put in the city.

    I am developing a cheap approach to an observatory with my "Cube".
    It is only 4ft x 4 ft but takes the 8 inch.
    I designed it to be able to use 8 x 4 sheets of ply which I had cut at the store.
    The semi permanent set up sees each of my scopes in it but the mount does not change.
    I did some sums to indicate an entry level if anyone wants to have a serious go.
    Eight inch scope say $500 or less.
    EQ5 mount ( my small mount) say $1000 abouts and a dslr say $500.
    So two and a half K will see you well set up.
    The mount is the most important part of the game...better to have a good mount and a poor scope than the other way about.
    You can easily spend $25,000 for a very good mount, $25,000 for a scope and $25,000 for a camera...
    Like cars but the expensive one few can manage to drive to potential.
    Here is my cube it has progressed past these photos but I am not there and these are all I have.
    Alex
    Alex
     
    Last edited: Aug 26, 2018
    Write4U likes this.
  4. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  5. Xelasnave.1947 Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    8,502

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

    Processing images is perhaps 50% or more of the game than aquiring data.

    I have been learning how to use a program called Startools and have reached a basic level of using that program.

    This image was a stack of all the data (3 hours made up of 30 second captures) I had taken with my Nikon D5500 DSLR 24 meg thru my 8 inch F5 Newtonian telescope (which cost under $500 but has additional coma corrector $300 or thereabouts) and processed in Startools($60?)

    I am very pleased with the result which has taken my processing to a higher level.

    I am still learning how to process the narrow band images with Startools which will take a little more study.

    Alex
     
  6. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  7. Xelasnave.1947 Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    8,502
    Mmm it seems to have lost quality due to making the file small ..I will see if I can download a better version later.
    Alex
     
  8. Xelasnave.1947 Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    8,502

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

    Sorry to be so long trying to offer a better image..this may be too small but here goes.
    Alex
     
    Write4U likes this.
  9. Write4U Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    20,069
    You continue to astound with your excellent photography. Thanks for sharing.

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
  10. Xelasnave.1947 Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    8,502
    Here is intial data for Orion.
    I hope to capture many more hours if the conditions allow.
    I need more colour data but so far happy with the detail that is showing early in the process.
    Alex

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
    Engell79 and Write4U like this.
  11. Xelasnave.1947 Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    8,502

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

    Here is another Orion but thru a smaller scope 80mm refractor.
    Was only able to capture a few and cloud and smoke ruined most.
    So I did not have any colours ... so although not a complete image I was surprised to get what I did.
    Alex
     
    Write4U likes this.
  12. Xelasnave.1947 Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    8,502
    Similar problems with this one from a couple of nights ago, thru the eight inch.
    I had to crop more than half to get the only reasonable part of the image...the camera had a slight tilt and created an off center circle around a star that ruined that region.
    Alex

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
    Write4U likes this.
  13. Xelasnave.1947 Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    8,502
    Here is my latest "final" images of M42 in the Orion Nebula.
    About 5 hour total exposure using 30 second individual captures (luminance, red blue, i did green but hardley used it and some ha which I just added to the luminance) processed (took all day) by stacking in Deep Sky Stacker, resulting images processed first in star tools then combined in photoshop with adjustments to the initial raw images and some adjustement of levels ad curves in Gimp. No darks or flats or darks for flat (obviously as I did not use flats).
    The mount was unguided but I had a good polar alignment thanks to Polemaster polar alignment camera and software.
    Thats the cut down explaination...had to run the gear off a battery, set up with 240 volt inverter, which I charge via a solar panel during the day...cause there is no grid power at my dark location.

    Gear 8 inch newtonian scope with coma corrector, mono camera (cosmos sensor) cooled to -15c, and various filters in 8 pos filter wheel. Camera downloads to lap top which is also powered via battery and inverter.
    Alex

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!


    Theres more but that should answer most questions.
     
    BdS and Write4U like this.
  14. Xelasnave.1947 Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    8,502
    Last night until 2-30 am and all day until 9 pm processing. This is thru a 80mm triplet refractor same camera.
    Alex
     

    Attached Files:

  15. Xelasnave.1947 Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    8,502
    Dup
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Dec 7, 2018
  16. Xelasnave.1947 Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    8,502
    dup
     
    Last edited: Dec 7, 2018
  17. Xelasnave.1947 Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    8,502
    Jan Ardena and Write4U like this.
  18. Jan Ardena OM!!! Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    13,968
    Alex, these are really stunning.
    Consider me a fan.

    Jan.
     
  19. Jan Ardena OM!!! Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    13,968
    Excuse my ignorance. But do you add the colours and textures. Or is this how it looks?

    Jan.
     
  20. Xelasnave.1947 Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    8,502
    Thank you Jan.
    My message is that thanks to mass production and wonderful cameras anyone can take these sort of photos and see for themseves the wonderful things that have been put there for us ☺... if you have a favorite God you will know that he has made astronomy cheap and available to most anyone and no doubt he would want all to look at the beauty that is out there ...and just think ...forty years ago not even the top astronomers could do what a mug like me can do on a very very limited budget... two thousand five hundred dollars will get you going which is only twenty five dollars per week for two years ... cut smokes or coffee and save that cash and you get a ticket to the beauty out there.

    If we were created surely it was to look out at the magnificence and beauty and know our unique place in space and time.

    Fan? I hope you are a fan of all there is ...I only bring to you what is there and it is yours as much as it is mine.

    Of course I dont see you as ignorant Jan.

    The simple answer for humans is yes I guess.

    But we all interprete the colour differently.

    A narrow band image is made up of (in my case) of 7 groups of "colours"...so we have a mono camera (black and white in effect) and a filter "wheel" that houses 7 individual filters..red, green, blue, luminance (black and white really) O11(oxygen) O11 (sulpher) and HA ( hydrogen) ...so I may take 150 frames (I prefer 300) with each filter (150 x7) to get red blue green etc etc ( and calibrate each by subtracting dark (say 50 to 100) and flat frames (say 50 to 100) to remove noise, hot pixels and dust etc in the optical path☺) ... so we can get up to over 1000 frames for just one photo...

    Anyways you combine the red green blue etc etc to produce an image in the colour you believe it to be...so the objects sortta look like the colour we produce...but what do things actually look like...we see so little of what is there..you have heard of the electro magnetic spectrum...visable light is in it...if you represent the electro magnetic spectrum as a strip of movie film..you know with frames say 25mm square (whatever)...and that strip of movie film was 2,500 miles long (containing micro waves xrays radio waves etc etc) only two ...only two...frames of that 2,500 mile film strip is what we can see.☺

    And really if we could see everything I guess we would see only a haze☺

    I use various programs but like to adjust colours in photoshop and I guess I turn them up a bit...but I try and make them what others consider the true colour.
    Alex
     
    Last edited: Dec 8, 2018
  21. Xelasnave.1947 Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    8,502
    Actually I think we only see one frame of that 2,500 miles strip☺
    The textures are from the camera and definition depends on the width of the lens or mirror in the scope.

    I dont think I have posted this one before...we call it "the Eagle Nebula" but that refers to the central feature which looks a little like an Eagle...that "eagle" part is what you see in the famous Hubble Space Telescope shot which they call "The Pillars of Creation" also in my phot you can see another famous nebula which they call "the finger of god" and I expect these names were given by atheists☺
    This image was taken with an ordinary dslr Nikon D5500 24meg camera and the colour added to match the way Hubble show it.
    Alex

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
  22. Xelasnave.1947 Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    8,502
    Pillars of Creation cropped from earlier image.
    Alex

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
  23. Xelasnave.1947 Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    8,502
    Finger of God cropped from my earlier image.
    Alex

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     

Share This Page