StarTools

I'm new to AP and StarTools and am trying to understand if/how I can clean up the red noise that's across much of my image. My scope is getting collimated so over the last two nights I've been playing with a widefield of Veil Nebula taken with my modded Canon and a zoom lens. I used 60 x 150s lights plus 40+ flats and 40+ darks, stacked in DSS. My sensor temp has been around 93F when shooting and am wondering if that's what's causing it.
The original FITS file (173MB) from DSS is at:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5JzO ... ERGb18wZWc

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Mike

Played around a bit more and made some progress.

First, found I had Per Channel Background Calibration turned on in DSS, so I restacked. Spent a lot more time with the Wipe module including masking out a few dust motes in my image and increasing the size of the dark anomaly filter. This allowed me to get rid of the major red bands. From there I just reprocessed my image until I got something a bit more pleasing.
I am missing some of the nebulosity between the eastern and western parts, but that may just require more integration time or more careful processing.

Feedback is welcome.

Mike

Hi Mike
I had a go at your veil using the stack that you posted. If you want me to try the new stack, put up a link. I think I needed to bump up the blue a bit. I'm also including my workflow

Che
File loaded [C:\Users\Che\Desktop\VEIL v1.0.FTS].
---
--- Bin
Parameter [Scale] set to [(scale/noise reduction 50.00%)/(400.00%)/(+2.00 bits)]
--- Crop
Parameter [X1] set to [4 pixels]
Parameter [Y1] set to [4 pixels]
Parameter [X2] set to [2381 pixels (-4)]
Parameter [Y2] set to [1585 pixels (-4)]
--- Wipe
Parameter [Mode] set to [Correct Color & Brightness]
Parameter [UNKNOWN] set to [Yes]
Parameter [Precision] set to [256 x 256 pixels]
Parameter [Dark Anomaly Filter] set to [3 pixels]
Parameter [Drop Off Point] set to [100 %]
Parameter [Corner Aggressiveness] set to [100 %]
Parameter [Aggressiveness] set to [75 %]
--- Develop
Parameter [White Calibration] set to [Use Stars]
Parameter [Gamma] set to [1.00]
Parameter [Skyglow] set to [0 %]
Parameter [Digital Development] set to [86.14 %]
Parameter [Blue Luminance Contrib.] set to [100 %]
Parameter [Green Luminance Contrib.] set to [100 %]
Parameter [Red Luminance Contrib.] set to [100 %]
Parameter [Dark Anomaly Headroom] set to [5 %]
Parameter [Dark Anomaly Filter] set to [Off]
--- HDR
Parameter [Small Detail Precision] set to [Max]
Parameter [Channels] set to [Color Only]
Parameter [Algorithm] set to [Optimize Hard]
Parameter [Dark/Bright Response] set to [Full]
Parameter [Detail Size Range] set to [21 pixels]
Parameter [Noise Suppression] set to [Off]
--- Contrast
Parameter [Expose Dark Areas] set to [No]
Parameter [Compensate Gamma] set to [No]
Parameter [Precision] set to [256 x 256 pixels]
Parameter [Dark Anomaly Filter] set to [1 pixels]
Parameter [Aggressiveness] set to [75 %]
Parameter [Dark Anomaly Headroom] set to [15 %]
--- Life
Parameter [Detail Preservation] set to [Linear Brightness Mask]
Parameter [Compositing Algorithm] set to [Multiply, Gamma Correct]
Parameter [Inherit Brightness, Color] set to [Off]
Parameter [Output Glow Only] set to [No]
Parameter [Airy Disk Sampling] set to [128 x 128 pixels]
Parameter [Airy Disk Radius] set to [8 pixels]
Parameter [Glow Threshold] set to [0 %]
Parameter [Detail Preservation Radius] set to [20.0 pixels]
Parameter [Saturation] set to [100 %]
Parameter [Strength] set to [100 %]
Parameter [Mask Fuzz] set to [1.0 pixels]
--- Develop
Parameter [White Calibration] set to [Use Stars]
Parameter [Gamma] set to [1.00]
Parameter [Skyglow] set to [0 %]
Parameter [Digital Development] set to [85.87 %]
Parameter [Blue Luminance Contrib.] set to [100 %]
Parameter [Green Luminance Contrib.] set to [100 %]
Parameter [Red Luminance Contrib.] set to [100 %]
Parameter [Dark Anomaly Headroom] set to [5 %]
Parameter [Dark Anomaly Filter] set to [Off]
--- Color
Parameter [Cap Green] set to [No]
Parameter [Bias Slider Mode] set to [Sliders Reduce Color Bias]
Parameter [Style] set to [Scientific (Color Constancy)]
Parameter [LRGB Method Emulation] set to [Straight CIELab Luminance Retention]
Parameter [Dark Saturation] set to [2.00]
Parameter [Bright Saturation] set to [Full]
Parameter [Saturation Amount] set to [200 %]
Parameter [Blue Bias Reduce] set to [1.00]
Parameter [Green Bias Reduce] set to [1.19]
Parameter [Red Bias Reduce] set to [1.71]
Parameter [Mask Fuzz] set to [1.0 pixels]
--- Wavelet De-Noise
Parameter [Scale 1] set to [90 %]
Parameter [Scale 2] set to [90 %]
Parameter [Scale 3] set to [90 %]
Parameter [Scale 4] set to [90 %]
Parameter [Scale 5] set to [0 %]
Parameter [Mask Fuzz] set to [1.0 pixels]
Parameter [Scale Correlation] set to [3]
Parameter [Color Detail Loss] set to [12 %]
Parameter [Brightness Detail Loss] set to [12 %]
Parameter [Grain Size] set to [4.5 pixels]
Parameter [Read Noise Compensation] set to [Off]
Parameter [Smoothness] set to [75 %]
--- Magic
Parameter [Mode] set to [Tighten]
Parameter [Mask Grow] set to [1 pixels]
Parameter [Iterations] set to [1 pixels]
File saved [C:\Users\Che\Desktop\VEIL v1.0.tiff].
File saved [C:\Users\Che\Desktop\veil.jpg].

Wow Che - much nicer than what I got - you kept more of the blue and also more of the red parts of the nebula. I played with the image some more this afternoon and couldn't get too much of an improvement. As I played with the image more I think that what I thought was mostly noise was in fact thousands of fainter stars in the image. Using magic to get rid of those seems to leave the reddish/brown splotchy areas - not sure if I can/should try and keep more of those stars.

I restacked a couple more times trying to get DSS to include more images. If you want to give it a go I think there's a wider band at the top you'll want to crop (and probably a similar one on the bottom). In the meantime I'm reading through your workflow - can see you did a number of things different than I had.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5JzO ... k5NQmdlaGM

Thanks!

Mike

here's what I got this time. I think I like the color better, but also did not bring out quite as much of the nebulosity.

Che
StarTools 1.4.297
Wed Jul 27 22:32:28 2016
-----------------------------------------------------------
File loaded [C:\Users\Che\Desktop\VEIL v5.0.FTS].
---
--- Bin
Parameter [Scale] set to [(scale/noise reduction 50.00%)/(400.00%)/(+2.00 bits)]
--- Crop
Parameter [X1] set to [91 pixels]
Parameter [Y1] set to [108 pixels]
Parameter [X2] set to [2351 pixels (-34)]
Parameter [Y2] set to [1559 pixels (-30)]
--- Wipe
Parameter [Mode] set to [Correct Color & Brightness]
Parameter [UNKNOWN] set to [Yes]
Parameter [Precision] set to [256 x 256 pixels]
Parameter [Dark Anomaly Filter] set to [1 pixels]
Parameter [Drop Off Point] set to [100 %]
Parameter [Corner Aggressiveness] set to [100 %]
Parameter [Aggressiveness] set to [75 %]
--- Develop
Parameter [White Calibration] set to [Use Stars]
Parameter [Gamma] set to [1.00]
Parameter [Skyglow] set to [0 %]
Parameter [Digital Development] set to [86.41 %]
Parameter [Blue Luminance Contrib.] set to [100 %]
Parameter [Green Luminance Contrib.] set to [100 %]
Parameter [Red Luminance Contrib.] set to [100 %]
Parameter [Dark Anomaly Headroom] set to [5 %]
Parameter [Dark Anomaly Filter] set to [Off]
--- HDR
Parameter [Small Detail Precision] set to [Max]
Parameter [Channels] set to [Color Only]
Parameter [Algorithm] set to [Optimize Soft]
Parameter [Dark/Bright Response] set to [Full]
Parameter [Detail Size Range] set to [21 pixels]
Parameter [Noise Suppression] set to [Off]
--- Contrast
Parameter [Expose Dark Areas] set to [No]
Parameter [Compensate Gamma] set to [No]
Parameter [Precision] set to [256 x 256 pixels]
Parameter [Dark Anomaly Filter] set to [1 pixels]
Parameter [Aggressiveness] set to [75 %]
Parameter [Dark Anomaly Headroom] set to [15 %]
--- Life
Parameter [Detail Preservation] set to [Linear Brightness Mask]
Parameter [Compositing Algorithm] set to [Multiply, Gamma Correct]
Parameter [Inherit Brightness, Color] set to [Off]
Parameter [Output Glow Only] set to [No]
Parameter [Airy Disk Sampling] set to [128 x 128 pixels]
Parameter [Airy Disk Radius] set to [8 pixels]
Parameter [Glow Threshold] set to [0 %]
Parameter [Detail Preservation Radius] set to [20.0 pixels]
Parameter [Saturation] set to [170 %]
Parameter [Strength] set to [111 %]
Parameter [Mask Fuzz] set to [1.0 pixels]
--- Develop
Parameter [White Calibration] set to [Use Stars]
Parameter [Gamma] set to [1.00]
Parameter [Skyglow] set to [0 %]
Parameter [Digital Development] set to [87.50 %]
Parameter [Blue Luminance Contrib.] set to [100 %]
Parameter [Green Luminance Contrib.] set to [100 %]
Parameter [Red Luminance Contrib.] set to [100 %]
Parameter [Dark Anomaly Headroom] set to [5 %]
Parameter [Dark Anomaly Filter] set to [Off]
--- Color
Parameter [Cap Green] set to [No]
Parameter [Bias Slider Mode] set to [Sliders Reduce Color Bias]
Parameter [Style] set to [Scientific (Color Constancy)]
Parameter [LRGB Method Emulation] set to [Straight CIELab Luminance Retention]
Parameter [Dark Saturation] set to [2.00]
Parameter [Bright Saturation] set to [Full]
Parameter [Saturation Amount] set to [294 %]
Parameter [Blue Bias Reduce] set to [1.00]
Parameter [Green Bias Reduce] set to [1.19]
Parameter [Red Bias Reduce] set to [1.79]
Parameter [Mask Fuzz] set to [1.0 pixels]
--- Wavelet De-Noise
Parameter [Scale 1] set to [90 %]
Parameter [Scale 2] set to [90 %]
Parameter [Scale 3] set to [90 %]
Parameter [Scale 4] set to [90 %]
Parameter [Scale 5] set to [0 %]
Parameter [Mask Fuzz] set to [1.0 pixels]
Parameter [Scale Correlation] set to [3]
Parameter [Color Detail Loss] set to [12 %]
Parameter [Brightness Detail Loss] set to [12 %]
Parameter [Grain Size] set to [4.5 pixels]
Parameter [Read Noise Compensation] set to [Off]
Parameter [Smoothness] set to [75 %]
--- Magic
Parameter [Mode] set to [Tighten]
Parameter [Mask Grow] set to [1 pixels]
Parameter [Iterations] set to [1 pixels]
File saved [C:\Users\Che\Desktop\VEIL v5.0.tif].
File saved [C:\Users\Che\Desktop\VEIL v5.0.jpg].

Thanks Che - both are better than I've been able to do, but I learned from what you did. Thanks for your help!

My scope just got back from getting collimated so I better figure out my next targets.

Mike