SharpCap Forums

Thanks Menno. This is scaled down to 33% of original size and saved as a JPG with quality 78% to get under the forum 1Mb limit. HOO2_combine-crop-lpc-cbg-St-scaled .jpg The 4-panel mosaic is 9341x5770. The FITS out of Astro Pixel Processor is 616Mb. Saved as a PNG is 88Mb. Saved as a JPG with 90% qu...

Thanks Tim.

Dave & Leandro

Results of some experimentation to obtain stronger colours. Using GIMP's Hue-Saturation with Saturation = 20 and applied twice: NGC3372_HOO-2-saturated2.JPG GIMP-Saturation.JPG Using PixInsight Processes StarMask and CurvesTransformation: NGC3372_HOO-2-starmask.jpg The original image: NGC3372_HOO-2....

Jerry With my refractor, I have found 60x60s to be a decent compromise for objects such as M42, M31, M51, M101, M81/M82, M27 (wide field); 60x15s to be useful for globular clusters. My C8 SCT I use for lunar/planetary. You will soon build up some knowledge after a few trials. If you have a cooled ca...

Jerry Having slept on last night's post, the histograms also give other information. Looking at the 120s exposure, the histogram tells me that for M42 with my equipment and sky conditions (Bortle 6) I will not gain anything by increasing the exposure. Increasing the number of frames will help (up to...

Jerry Don't overlook the simplicity of test shots and a correctly shaped histogram - to assess the exposure for an object under given sky conditions. These log histograms displayed in FITS Liberator are test shots of M42. Aim for A to be greater than zero and B to be less than 65535. If A is zero, t...

Thanks Brian.

Dave & Leandro

Many thanks to Leandro for capturing the data and producing the Ha and OIII stacks. The images are a 4-panel Ha/OIII mosaic of NGC 3372 (part of the Carina Nebula). Leandro (@leandro from Argentina) captured the data during March/April 2024, over 16 nights to avoid the moon and bad weather. Leandro ...

Tim

Yes with evolving software and my improved processing, I have been able to achieve better results from older data. Always worth revisiting old stuff.

Dave

Phil

I could try a USB2 hub to see if that works I guess

This is worth trying. I have an old ZWO ASI120MC USB2 camera which does not work when connected to a USB3 port but functions correctly when connected via a USB2 port.

Dave