StarTools

I've gotten myself a Vespera Pro and used the Veil Nebula as my test subject.
The result it produces is very neat.

I was curious how well I can process those raw frames myself. The telescope conveniently outputs a FITS file for each frame.


Apparently, I can't produce anything remotely as good as what the smart telescope made.

Did stacking in DSS5, went fine. Because the telescope is Az-Alt, there is a lot of rotation between the frames, but DSS5 takes care of that easily. Star detection threshold I lowered to 4% and left other settings unchanged.

I have trouble working with color in StarTools. The Wiping module messes big time with colors.
And then revealing the nebula takes extra tweaks and still it becomes a blob rather than this nice shell of a sausage.

I don't know what information to provide to make this request for guidance most constructive.

Please advise

Hi and welcome back!

Hard to say, what's going on there.
If it's an option for you, it would be most effective if you could share the stacked image fits file and we could have a look.

Dietmar.

I'm sure the issue is the skill issue on my side.

If you take a look and share your technique, I'll be happy to learn from your findings

Please find the stacked file here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1REKyDf ... drive_link

I want to do this exercise to better learn to use this powerful image processing software. I still hope to get around to using my "high effort telescope" that does require postprocessing of images

orfest wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2024 3:43 pm Please find the stacked file here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1REKyDf ... drive_link

This link doesn't seem to work You will have to share it somehow for public access, I suppose. (I don't have a Google account, so I don't know how this is done.)

Re-uploaded the stacked source image. I appreciate you giving a go

http://chucha.me:5000/d/s/zYE5v3khUD3DJ ... byAh0k_kAs

orfest wrote: ↑Sat Aug 03, 2024 2:01 pm Re-uploaded the stacked source image.

That did it.

One hint: It is recommended to use the 'Intersection Mode' of DSS. Please have a look here:
https://www.startools.org/links--tutori ... r-settings
This is even more important in your case, as you are using an Az-Alt mount.

I'm sorry, but I'm afraid, there are some serious issues regarding your stack. This is nothing, which can be addressed by image processing. You probably already 'got out the most', if you would like to say so.

Troubleshooting should start at image acquisition, I would say. I'm not sure - if you are new to AP in general: The Veil Nebula is -well- quite faint and often narrowband filters are used to reject light pollution and to get out some Ha and OIII signal. Depending on sky quality of your location this may be a difficult object to start with. I would suggest to start with a bright object, perhaps M31 or M13.

If nobody else here is able to help, it would be best to get in touch with other people using this smart scope to get some help on how to get started. Perhaps a local club or general astronomy internet forum?

I hope this helps, anyway. Let us know, how you get on.

Dietmar.

Thank you Dietmar for your time and consideration.

> get in touch with other people using this smart scope to get some help on how to get started.

I appreciate your offer, but I'm ok. The post-processing in the smart telescope is surprisingly good. Which is why I picked this difficult object.

> there are some serious issues regarding your stack.

I suspected it is part of the problem. But at the same time I'm in Denial that it can be an issue. The smart telescope provided me the raw FITS files, therefore the at that step must be good. Maybe there are better ways to apply DSS5 to stacking this particular set of raw images