StarTools

Hi everybody,

I attempted to image some dust and Ha again and aimed the scope at the region of LBN 437 / SH2-126 in Lacerta.

I first aquired some duo NB data during a pretty bright moon and added this via NBAccent to broadband data collected during the last couple of days basically without (bright) moon light.

Unlike my image of vdb 152 I am quite happy how this turned out:


I was surprised how much dust is visible after ten hours with a OSC. This wasn't the case with my previous effort on vdb 152. But during processing a preliminary version of LBN 437 I noticed that my old set of flats definitely wasn't working any more. With new flats it has been much better. Maybe this has already been the case with my vdb 152 data and I should restack the stuff. How long do you use your old flats or do you reshot them for every night/every project?

Regards
Stefan

PS. See https://www.astrobin.com/n1erzk/ for details.

Another interesting region! Great looking stars all around too.

I take new flats always, but then I also set up the whole rig anew each night including camera orientation (though I use plate solving to get very close if I am adding to a prior session).

I've also been taking "direction matched" flats with the Newt. I don't know if I necessarily still need to, as I have since added some shims to solidify the primary in its cell and reduce the possibility of shifting. But it seemed to really help and I've kept it up. Guess I should experiment.

Hi Stefan,

nice result! Your image shows a great depth and a smooth appearing. And I like the look of the bright stars. They look fine and brilliant with needle-like spikes.

I'm taking new flats with every session, as they do not serve only for correcting vignetting, but for dust specks as well. And it does not take much time to take them.

Best regards, Dietmar.

Thanks for your feedback! Maybe you are right and it makes sense to shot a new set of flats at least more often. I noticed some time ago that stacking lights with older flats worked as good as with new ones so I skipped recording new ones until I really needed to. But probably a higher frequency won't hurt.

Regards
Stefan

Stefan,
Beautiful image with tremendous resolution
I’m amazed at the tight diffraction spikes on nearly all stars from that basic f5 newt. You must have precise collimation, focus , stable skies and great tracking and guiding
Well done !!

Oh and take new flats for each session, I’ve tried re using flats and it’s doesn’t work for me

Martin

Hi Martin,

thanks for your kind feedback!

I appreaciate you all noticed the stars which I particularly liked about the image. Usually the stars don't look so fine but this time they turned out fine. No special processing was applied apart from shrink (which didn't include the spikes). Maybe the conditions were just right this time...

Regards
Stefan