2023-03-15: APP 2.0.0-beta14 has been released !
IMPROVED FRAME LIST, sorting on column header click and you can move the columns now which will be preserved between restarts.
We are very close now to releasing APP 2.0.0 stable with a complete printable manual...
Astro Pixel Processor Windows 64-bit
Astro Pixel Processor macOS Intel 64-bit
Astro Pixel Processor macOS Apple M Silicon 64-bit
Astro Pixel Processor Linux DEB 64-bit
Astro Pixel Processor Linux RPM 64-bit
Hi fellow Astrophotographers,
after moving from the city to the suburb I am now happy to image broadband targets again. This is around 5 hours from my new garden. I was only able to image M33 before it hit it's peak and I think the resolution took a hit because of that. The change of correctors shows a work in progress. The Schmidt Newtonian never got a dedicated Corrector for it's remaining Coma and astigmatism and I am still figuring out the spacing after 2 years. The Paracorrs Illumination is much better than the Maxfield's. Both coma correctors work at around 5mm less of spacing between corrector and sensor right now. CS,
Ben
Acquisition details:
- Meade SN8
- NEQ 6 pro
- Sony A7rIIa
- Mgen II
- acquisition date 3rd of September in Sankt Augustin - Germany
- TS-MAxfield Coma Corrector 0.95X
- 67 x 2 min lights
- 8 x flat
- 20 x darks
- 25 x bias
- acquisition date 8th of September in Sankt Augustin - Germany
- ParaCorr PLU 1.15X
- 39 x 5 min lights
- 24 x flats
- 20 x darks
- 25 x bias
Post processing steps:
- Stacked in APP with all auto settings except for dynamic distortion correction turned on
- remove light pollution in APP
- star color calibration in APP
- worked on colors in Lightroom and used eliptical luminance masked adjustments to tame the background
- starsize reduction in Photoshop with starmask created with threshhold adjustment layer on top of difference layer of the image and a descratched version of the image. The actual star size reduction was done with a minmum filter.
- final touch ups and cropping in Lightroom
Tip; open the image in a new tab, it shows the full uploaded resolution.
Very nice! I see what you mean with the slightly stretched stars in the corners, but I have to say.. that's on the professional tweaking level already. 🙂 So great to be able to move to darker places, I totally get that. When I lived in NZ and now in Denmark (on a dark island), it makes for all the difference.
Thanks for sharing!